Press Release 04/12/2018

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION INDEX, OCTOBER 2018

Industrial activity in the Basque Country rose by 1.9% in October 2018

The Industrial Production Index accumulated growth of 2.1% in the first ten months of 2018, led by capital goods with a rate of 4.4%

Industrial production of the Basque Country in October 2018 was up by 1.9% compared to the same month of 2017, in homogeneous terms of the working calendar, according to Eustat data. The balance for the first ten months of 2018 saw growth of 2.1% on the same period of 2017.

Compared to the previous month, September 2018, the industrial production of the Basque Country remained unchanged (0.0%), once seasonal effects had been corrected.

The performance of the index in October 2018 compared to October 2017 registered positive and negative results in the major industrial sectors. Capital Goods were up by 2.5%, Intermediate Goods rose by 0.4% but Energy was down by 0.3%. Consumer Goods as a whole were up by 7.6%. Within the latter, Consumer Durables increased by 12.4% and Consumer Non-durables grew by 5.7%.

The month-on-month variation, October 2018 on September 2018, also registered distinct trends for the major industrial sectors. Intermediate Goods rose by 1.2% and Energy by 1.1%, whereas Capital Goods fell by 2.5%. Consumer Goods as a whole increased by 3.0%, due to Consumer Durables being up by 5.2% and Consumer Non-Durables rising by 2.1%.

Among the largest sectors in Basque industry, those that saw the most significant growth in terms of year-on-year variations were: Electrical Material & Equipment, with 13.9%, Food, Beverages & Tobacco, with 6.4% and Timber, Paper & Graphic Arts, with 0.5%

On the other hand, there were decreases in the sectors of Electricity, Gas & Steam, which fell by 3.5%, Transport Material, down 0.3% and Metallurgy & Metal Products, which dropped by 0.2%.

By province, the year-on-year performance of the Industrial Production Index for the month of October was positive in Gipuzkoa, where it rose by 3.9% and in Bizkaia, where it was up by 1.1%; in contrast, Álava posted a decrease of 0.1%.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62