Press Release 06/02/2014
Industrial activity in the Basque Country fell by 1.0% in December 2013
The industry balance in 2013 closed with an accumulated recession of 3.2%, 2.7 percentage points better than the previous year
Industrial production of the Basque Country in December 2013 fell 1.0% compared to the same month of 2012, in homogenous terms of the working calendar, according to Eustat data.
Compared to the previous month, November 2013, the industrial production of the Basque Country rose by 1.4%, once seasonal effects had been corrected.
The evolution of the index for December 2013 compared with December 2012 revealed downturns in Energy, which decreased by 10.7%, and Consumer Goods, which fell by 5.5%, as a result of the drop experienced by Consumer Durables, which were down 23.4%, and the 1.4% rise of Consumer Non-durables. Capital Goods rose by 2.5% and Intermediate Goods did so by 1.3%.
The month-on-month variation for December 2013, on November 2013, was positive for Energy, which registered an upturn of 2.0%, and Capital Goods, which increased by 2.4%. Intermediate Goods posted a drop of 0.3% and Consumer Goods, as a whole, were down by 1.8%, due to the decrease experienced both by Consumer Durables, which fell by 5.2%, and Consumer Non-durables, which fell by 0.5%.
Among the largest sectors in Basque industry, two of them registered growth in the month of December 2013 with regards to year-on-year variations: Transport Equipment, which posted a positive rate of 19.4% and Food, Beverages & Tobacco Industries, with a rise of 2.9%.
On the other hand, the Electrical Material and Equipment sector, which posted a year-on-year decrease of 10.4%, Electricity, Gas and Steam, which experienced a drop of 9.4% and Plastics & Rubber with a negative rate of 1.8%, all stood out.
By province, year-on-year performance of the Industrial Production Index for the month of December showed positive results in Álava, where it increased by 6.0%, and in Gipuzkoa, where the increase was 0.7%, in contrast with Bizkaia which saw a fall of 6.7%. The month-on-month performance was positive in Gipuzkoa, where it increased by 3.1% and in Álava, where it was up by 2.3%, while it fell in Bizkaia by 0.9% compared to November 2013.
Industrial activity balance for 2013
The 2013 balance for the Basque Country with respect to the previous year ended with a drop in the Industrial Production Index of 3.2%. This figure is 2.7 percentage points better than the previous year, when industrial activity fell by 5.9%.
None of the large industrial sectors analysed escaped the negative variations in the annual accumulate. Capital Goods fell by 3.3%, Energy was down 2.4% and Intermediate Goods were down by 2.5%. Consumer Goods, as a whole, fell by 5.1%. Within this group, the decrease in Consumer Durables stood at 10.6%, whilst Consumer Non-Durables fell by 2.7%, compared to 2012.
The accumulated variations in 2013 for the three provinces were also negative: in Bizkaia the index dropped by 4.3%, Álava witnessed a fall of 2.6% and Gipuzkoa saw a decrease of 2.4%.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on Industrial Production Index of the Basque Country (IPI)
Databank on Industrial Production Index of the Basque Country (IPI)