Press Release 06/03/2018
Industrial activity in the Basque Country rose by 3.3% in January 2018
Plastic and Rubber and Transport Material stand out this month with growth above 10%
Industrial production of the Basque Country in January 2018 was up by 3.3% compared to the same month of 2017, in homogenous terms of the working calendar, according to Eustat data. Compared to the previous month, December 2017, the industrial production of the Basque Country fell by 2.7%, once seasonal effects had been corrected.
The performance of the index in January 2018 compared to January 2017 was positive for Capital Goods, with an increase of 8.0%, Intermediate Goods, up 3.3% and Energy with a rise of 1.1%. However, Consumer Goods were down 6.3%. Within this sector there were decreases of 8.9% in Consumer Durables and 5.3% in Consumer Non-durables.
The month-on-month variation for January 2018, compared to December 2017, showed a downward trend for all the main industrial sectors. Consumer Goods as a whole decreased by 4.5%, since Consumer Non-Durables and Consumer Durables posted drops of 5.6% and 1.5%, respectively. Energy fell by 4.3%, Intermediate Goods were down by 1.3% and Capital Goods decreased by 0.7%.
Among the largest sectors in Basque industry, those that saw the most significant growth in the month of January 2018 with regards to year-on-year variations were: Transport Material with 13.8%, Plastic and Rubber with 10.3% and Machinery & Equipment with 9.3%.
On the other hand, the largest decreases occurred in the Electricity, Gas & Steam sector, which posted a year-on-year drop of 8.4%; in Timber paper and graphic arts, which registered a fall of 5.5%; and in Food, Beverages & Tobacco, which was down 3.1%.
By province, the year-on-year performance of the Industrial Production Index for the month of January was negative only in Bizkaia, where it was down by 1.0%. In Álava it was up by 7.6% and in Gipuzkoa by 5.4%.
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