Industrial production in the A.C. of the Basque Country grew by 9.0% in August 2006 with regard to the same month in 2005, in homogenous terms of the working calendar, according to EUSTAT data. Over the first eight months of the year the accumulated growth was 4.5% on the same period in 2005

In August 2006, compared with July 2006, industrial production in the A.C. of the Basque Country grew by 4.4%, once corrected for seasonal effects.

Corrected inter-annual quarterly growth of the Industrial Production Index of the A.C. of the Basque Country

(*) Corrected inter-annual growth for July-August 2006

Source: Eustat

Sectorial evolution

By sectors, bearing in mind the classification of large industrial sectors, the evolution of the index in August 2006 with regard to August 2005 presents positive variations in growth in all sectors: Capital goods grew by 29.0%, Intermediate goods grew by 7.3%, Energy rose by 2.9% and Consumer goods improved by 1.2%, as a result of the increases in Durable Consumer Goods (-5.2%) and Non-durable Consumer Goods (-0.4%).

The inter-monthly variations for August 2006 on July 2006 were different for the industrial sectors. Capital goods increased by 12.2% in inter-monthly terms, Intermediate goods fell by 0.4% with regard to the previous month, Energy dropped by 1.3% and Consumer Goods decreased by 0.9% with regard to last July, due to the fall registered by Non-durable Consumer Goods (-1.7%) as Durable Consumer Goods increased by 0.6%.

Evolution by provinces

By provinces, the inter-annual evolutions of the Industrial production index were all positive: rising in Álava by 15.6%, in Gipuzkoa by 12.2%, and in Bizkaia by 4.7%.

The inter-monthly rates, August 2006 on July 2006, of provinces rose in all three provinces, increasing by 9.2% in Álava, 5.3% in Gipuzkoa, and decreasing by 1.2% in Bizkaia.

Table: August 2006. Variation rates (%) for the Industrial Production Index of the A.C. of the Basque Country

(1) Inter-annual variation rate for the accumulated period from January to the last month of year t on the same period in year t-1

Source: Eustat