Press release 04/11/2020

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION INDEX. SEPTEMBER 2020

Industrial activity in the Basque Country fell by 9.8% in September 2020

Compared to the previous month, August 2020, the industrial production index increased by 2.5%

Industrial production of the Basque Country in September 2020 was down 9.8% compared to the same month of 2019, in homogeneous terms of the working calendar, according to Eustat data.

Comparing September 2020 with August 2020, the industrial production of the Basque Country rose by 2.5%, once corrected for seasonal effects.

The balance for the first nine months of 2020 closed with an accumulated contraction of 15.1% in industrial activity.

The index showed a downward trend for all the major industrial sectors in September 2020 compared to September 2019. Energy fell by 23.5%. Among the activities that stood out in this sector were the supply of electrical power and oil refining.

Intermediate Goods fell by 8.5% and Capital Goods were down 7.2%. Included among the former are the activities of metallurgy, manufacture of metal products, chemical industry and manufacture of rubber and plastic products; while among the latter it is worth mentioning manufacture of motor vehicles, construction of locomotives and railway material, naval construction and manufacture of aircraft.

Lastly, Consumer Goods, as a whole, posted a year-on-year decrease of 6.5%; within these, there was a 32.1% decrease in Consumer Durables, whilst Consumer Non-Durables were down 17.2%. Within Consumer Durables are the activities of manufacture of furniture, domestic appliances and electronic products. Included in the large sector of Consumer Non-Durables are the preparation, processing and conservation of foodstuffs; manufacture of cleaning and hygiene products; and manufacture of clothing.

The month-on-month variation, September 2020 on August 2020, showed more moderate positive and negative variations in all the main industrial sectors, once corrected for seasonal effects. Capital Goods were up by 11.5%, whereas production of Consumer Goods as a whole increased by 1.3%, a combination of the rise of 3.5% for Consumer Durables and of 0.8% for Consumer Non-durables. In contrast, Energy fell by 6.8% and Intermediate Goods were down 0.1%.

At a more disaggregated level, among the largest sectors in Basque industry, the only one that performed positively in September 2020, with regards to year-on-year variations, was Plastic & Rubber with an increase in its production of 3.0%. The sectors with most weight that registered the greatest decreases were: Electricity, Gas & Steam, which decreased by 20.3%; Metallurgy & Metal Products , down 14.7%; and Machinery & Equipment, with a fall of 7.0%, once corrected for the corresponding calendar effects.

province, the year-on-year performance of the Industrial Production Index for September 2020 was negative in the three provinces. Thus, in Bizkaia there was a decrease of 14.8% (influenced above all by the performance of the energy sector), in Gipuzkoa there was a fall of 6.9% and, finally, in Álava it was down 6.2%.

In month-on-month terms, September 2020 on September 2020, once corrected for seasonal effects, there was an increase in production of 4.0% in Álava, 3.3% in Bizkaia and 0.9% in Gipuzkoa.

NOTE:

The models used in the correction of calendar effects and deseasonalisation of the series include the effect of COVID-19 on the variables studied, following the recommendations of the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) (Eurostat) in its methodological note Guidance on Time Series Treatment in the context of the COVID-19 crisis..

Eustat would like to thank all the establishments that have collaborated in making this effort despite the extraordinary circumstances. As a result, the September index was calculated with 92.49% coverage of the sample, the information for which was collected during October.

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