Italy’s seasonally adjusted industrial production index fell by 1.3% in August 2026 compared with the previous month, according to new data from Istat.
As the data showed, production declined by 1.1% across the three months from June to August compared with the previous three-month period. On a year-on-year basis, meanwhile, output was unchanged from August 2025.
Macro picture
On a sector-by-sector basis, meanwhile, energy was the only main sector to record an increase in production on a month-on-month basis, rising by 2.8% from July. Production of capital goods fell by 0.9%, consumer goods by 1.2%, and intermediate goods by 1.8%.
The annual comparison showed a different pattern, however. Although total calendar-adjusted production was unchanged from August 2025, energy production increased by 11.5% and capital-goods production rose by 0.7%. Intermediate-goods production declined by 4.0%, while consumer-goods production fell by 4.4%.
Sub-sector analysis
Looking at individual sub-sectors, the manufacture of pharmaceutical products reported a 5.5% increase in production in August, compared to the previous month, however compared to the same month a year earlier, this was down 2.7.
The manufacture of textiles, apparel, leather and accessories fell by1.9% month-on-month, with year-on-year production down by double digits (-14.0). A similar drop was observed in the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, which was down 1.2% month-on-month and 11.4% year-on-year.
Elsewhere, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply reported a 3.5% increase in August, compared to July, and was up 14.5% on a year-on-year basis.
‘The calendar adjusted industrial production index was unchanged compared with August 2025 (calendar working days being 21 versus 20 days in August 2025),’ Istat noted. Read more here.
