Press Release 05/04/2018
Industrial activity in the Basque Country rose by 3.5% in February 2018
The industrial production index saw a growth of 3.6% in the first two months of 2018
Industrial production of the Basque Country in February 2018 rose 3.5% compared to the same month of 2017, in homogenous terms of the working calendar, according to Eustat data. The balance for the first two months of 2018 saw growth of 3.6% on the same period of 2017.
Compared to the previous month, January 2018, the industrial production of the Basque Country fell by 0.2%, once seasonal effects had been corrected.
There were positive and negative variations in the index of the major industrial sectors in February 2018 compared to February 2017. Energy rose by 19.3%, Intermediate Goods were up by 3.1% and Consumer Goods, as a whole, increased by 0.7%. Within these, Consumer Durables, which were up 2.3%, determined the rate of growth, since Consumer Non-Durables remained stable (0.0%). On the other hand, Capital Goods were down by 0.1%.
The month-on-month variation in February 2018, compared to January 2018, also registered distinct trends for the main industrial groups. Capital Goods were down by 4.0% and Intermediate Goods decreased by 0.4%, but Energy was up by 9.6% and Consumer Goods as a whole grew by 1.5%, due to the 2.2% rise in Consumer Durables and the 1.3% increase in Consumer Non-Durables.
Among the largest sectors in Basque industry – those that saw the most significant growth in the month of February 2018 in terms of year-on-year variations – were: Transport Material up by 7.0%, Plastic & Rubber up 2.6% and Electricity, Gas & Steam and Metallurgy & Metal Products with a rise of 2.4%, in both cases.
In contrast, there was a decrease in the Timber paper and graphic arts sector, which posted a year-on-year drop of 6.7%.
By province, the year-on-year performance of the Industrial Production Index for the month of February showed an upward trend in all three: it rose by 5.4% in Gipuzkoa, by 3.8% in Bizkaia and 0.1% in Álava.
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