Press release 04/07/2019

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION INDEX, MAY 2019

Industrial activity in the Basque Country rose by 3% in May 2019

The industrial production index saw growth of 0.8% in the first five months of 2019

Industrial production of the Basque Country in May 2019 was up 3% compared to the same month of 2018, in homogenous terms of the working calendar, according to Eustat data. The balance for the first five months of 2019 saw growth of 0.8% on the same period of 2018.

With regards to the previous month, April 2019, the industrial production of the Basque Country rose by 1.2%, once seasonal effects had been corrected.

There were positive performances in the index of all the industrial sectors in May 2019 compared to May 2018. Consumer Goods as a whole increased by 7.9%; within these, Consumer Durables were up 11.5% and Consumer Non-Durables rose by 7.1%. Capital Goods posted a rise of 3.1% and Intermediate Goods were up 2.7%, whilst Energy grew by 0.7%.

The month-on-month variation, May 2019 on April 2019, also registered upward trends for the major industrial sectors, except Energy, which fell by 1.9%. Capital Goods were up 4.6% and Intermediate Goods saw an increase of 0.7%. Consumer Goods as a whole increased by 1.3%, since Consumer Non-Durables and Consumer Durables posted rises of 1.5% and 0.8%, respectively.

Among the largest sectors in Basque industry, those that saw the most significant growth in the month of May 2019 with regards to year-on-year variations were: Electrical Material & Equipment, with year-on-year growth of 10.4%, Electricity, Gas & Steam, which posted a rise of 6.3% and Rubber & Plastics, with an increase of 5.3%. The sectors that saw the smallest increases were Timber, Paper & Graphic Arts, up 1%, and Metallurgy & Metal Products and Machinery & Equipment, which both saw a rise of 1.3%. After several months of negative rates, Transport Material started to recover, posting a positive result of 3.0%.

By province, the year-on-year performance of the Industrial Production Index for the month of May was positive in Bizkaia, where it rose by 5.3%, and in Gipuzkoa, where it was up 3.3%; in contrast, Álava posted a decrease of 1.1%.

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