The production of manufactured goods fell by 1.2% in the European Union last year, compared to 2022, data from Eurostat has found.
The decline follows on from two successive year-on-year increases, of 8.5% in 2022 (compared to 2021) and of 0.4% in 2021 (compared to 2020).
Production fluctuations
The production of manufactured goods rose steadily between 2014 and 2028, before seeing a small decline in 2021, and a larger dip in 2020, when the pandemic hit.
‘The outbreak of COVID-19 and related containment measures widely introduced by EU countries had a significant impact on the EU’s industrial production in 2020, but 2021 and 2022 showed increases in production in all the industrial activity groups,’ Eurostat said.
Vehicle manufacturing
Examining the top groups of manufacturing activities, the highest jump in sold production value was recorded in the manufacturing of motor vehicles and other transport equipment, which saw a 20% increase in production value (at current prices) from €776 billion in 2022 to €934 billion in 2023.
This was followed by the manufacturing of machinery and equipment (€556 billion in 2022 to €600 billion in 2023), with an 8% increase in sold production value, and by the manufacturing of food, beverages and tobacco (€1,006 billion to €1,056 billion), which saw 5% growth.
A decrease in sold production value, however, was recorded in the manufacturing of chemicals (€542 billion to €461 billion), with a 15% drop, Eurostat‘s data showed.
This was followed by the manufacturing of basic metals and fabricated metal products (€888 billion to €816 billion) with 8% and the manufacturing of rubber, plastic and other non-metallic mineral products (€495 billion to €467 billion) with 6%.
