Press Release 02/08/2021

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION INDEX. JUNE 2021

Industrial activity in the Basque Country recovered by 13.3% in June 2021

The accumulated variation of the Industrial Production Index for the first six months of 2021 stood at 13.9%

Industrial production of the Basque Country in June 2021 was up 13.3% compared to the same month of 2020, in homogeneous terms of the working calendar, according to Eustat data. It is the fourth month of noteworthy advances in industrial production, with growth exceeding 10%. The balance of the first six months of 2021 closed with a 13.9% rise in industrial activity.

A comparison between June 2021 and May 2021, on the other hand, revealed that the industrial production of the Basque Country dropped by 1.6%, once corrected for seasonal effects.

In order to understand the effect of the trends in year-on-year terms, the impact on industrial activity during the months following the state of emergency decreed on 14 March 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic must be taken into account.

The index showed an upward tendency for all the major industrial sectors in June 2021 compared to June 2020. The greatest increase was registered in Intermediate Goods (these include the activities of metallurgy and manufacture of metal products, chemical industry and manufacture of rubber and plastic products), which rose by 19.5%.

Consumer Goods, as a whole, posted a year-on-year increase of 17.0%, with a 39.9% rise in Consumer Durables and an 12.0% increase in Consumer Non-Durables. 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.

For their part, Capital Goods (which include the manufacture of motor vehicles, construction of locomotives and railway material, naval construction and manufacture of aircraft), increased by 6.1%.

Finally, Energy, which includes supply of electrical power and oil refining, rose by 5.9% in year-on-year terms in June 2021.

The month-on-month variation, June 2021 on May 2021, was varied in the big industrial sectors: Energy rose by 3.5%, whereas Consumer Goods as a whole saw a production increase of 1.8%, as a result of the 3.8% upturn posted by Consumer Non-durables, as Consumer Durables dropped by 4.8%. In contrast, Capital Goods were down by 4.2% and Intermediate Goods by 1.1%.

At a more disaggregated level, among the largest sectors in Basque industry, those that showed greater year-on-year recovery June 2021 were: Metallurgy & Metal Products, with a growth in production of 26.7%; Rubber Plastics which increased by 20.9%; andMachinery & Equipment, up 16.8%. In contrast, the only sector that posted a negative year-on year performance was Transport Material, with a drop of 10.6%.

The year-on-year evolution of the Industrial Production Index for June 2021 was positive in the three provinces. Thus, in Gipuzkoa there was a rise of 18.5%, in Bizkaia industrial production in June 2021 was 16.6% higher than in June 2020 and, finally, in Álava the year-on-year variation stood at 0.2%.

In the accumulated total for the first five months of 2021, Gipuzkoa experienced the highest growth, with 17.3%; followed by Álava, with 13.0%; and Bizkaia with 11.0%.

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) 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 with gathering information. As a result, the June index was calculated with 92.61% coverage of the sample information was collected during July.

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