Industrial production fell by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.3% across the European Union in August 2026, Eurostat has noted, extending the decline in euro-area production to a third consecutive month.
Production had fallen by 0.3% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU in July, while compared with August 2025, production was down 1.1% in the euro area and 0.2% in the EU.
Month-on-month
The monthly decline in the euro area was driven principally by non-durable consumer goods, which fell by 2.7% compared with July, while intermediate-goods production decreased by 0.8% and energy production by 0.6%. At the same time, there was a month-on-month increase in capital-goods production (+0.4%) and durable consumer-goods production (+0.2%).
Across the broader EU, meanwhile, non-durable consumer-goods production fell by 2.3% in August, intermediate goods declined by 0.3% and energy production fell by 0.5%. Capital-goods production increased by 0.7%, while durable consumer goods were unchanged.
On a country-by-country basis, Sweden recorded the strongest monthly increase, at 6.5%, followed by Estonia (+4.3%) and the Netherlands (+2.6%), Eurostat noted.
The largest monthly declines were recorded in Belgium, where production fell by 5.1%, followed by Ireland (-3.1%) and Portugal (-2.0%).
Annual production
On an annual basis, meanwhile, production of non-durable consumer goods in the euro area fell by 9.1%. Intermediate goods declined by 0.4%, while energy increased by 3.1%, capital goods by 3.0% and durable consumer goods by 0.4%.
In the EU, non-durable consumer goods declined by 6.7%, while intermediate goods increased by 0.3%, energy by 2.4%, capital goods by 3.6% and durable consumer goods by 0.8%.
The biggest increases in industrial production across the broader EU were recorded in the Netherlands (+9.8%), Hungary (+8.8%) and Denmark (+8.3%), while Ireland (-15.0%), Belgium (-7.1%) and Bulgaria (-5.4%) reported the largest declines, Eurostat’s data showed.
The industrial production index measures changes in production volume in industry excluding construction and is based on calendar- and seasonally-adjusted national data. Read more here.
