Press release 07/03/2019

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION INDEX, JANUARY 2019

Industrial activity in the Basque Country rose by 0.7% in January 2019

The Industrial Production Index registered positive rates after falling for two months

Industrial production of the Basque Country in January 2019 was up 0.7% compared to the same month of 2018, in homogenous terms of the working calendar, according to Eustat data. Compared to the previous month, December 2018, the industrial production of the Basque Country rose by 3.1%, once seasonal effects had been corrected.

The performance of the index in January 2019 compared to January 2018 was positive for Capital Goods, with an increase of 1.1% and lntermediate Goods, up 1.0%. On the other hand, Energy was down 0.8%, as were Consumer Goods, which dropped 0.1%, influenced by the 5.0% decrease in Consumer Durables, given that Consumer Non-durables were up 2.0%.

The month-on-month variation, January 2019 on December 2018, registered both upward and downward trends for the main industrial sectors. Capital Goods were up 7.3% and Intermediate Goods increased by 3.2%, whilst Energy saw no change, (0.0%), and Consumer Goods as a whole were down 1.3%, given that Consumer Non-durables fell by 2.0%, whereas Consumer Durables rose by 0.9%.

Among the largest sectors in Basque industry, those that saw the most significant growth in the month of January 2019 with regards to year-on-year variations were: Electrical Material & Equipment increased by 8.8%, Timber, Paper & Graphic Arts by 5.9% and Electricity, Gas & Steam by 3.4%.

On the other hand, there were decreases in the Machinery & Equipment sector, which posted a year-on-year drop of 2.7%; in Rubber & Plastics, , which registered a fall of 1.5%; and in Transport Material, which was down 1.4%.

By province, the year-on-year performance of the Industrial Production Index for the month of January was negative only in Álava, where it was down 2.5%. In Bizkaia it rose by 2.5% and in Gipuzkoa it was up 0.7%.

For further information:

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