Denmark saw the biggest increase in industrial production in the European Union in July 2024, new data has shown, reporting a 19.8% increase year-on-year.
According to Eurostat data, Greece (+10.8%) and Finland (+6.4%) also showed marked increases in industrial production, while Hungary (-6.4%), Estonia (-5.8%) and Germany (-5.5%) reported the largest decreases on a year-on-year basis.
Industrial production decreases in EU
Overall, however, the picture was a negative one – industrial production decreased by 1.7% in the EU in July 2024, compared to July 2023, while in the euro area, it was down 2.2%.
On a month-on-month basis, the decline was 0.% in the EU and 0.3% in the euro area, Eurostat noted.
Looking at some of the major segments within industrial production at EU level, energy production rose 2.3% in July, compared to the same month the previous year. Production of non-durable consumer goods was also up, by 3.9%.
However, production decreased by 2.7% for intermediate goods, by 5.4% for capital goods, by 3.5% for durable consumer goods.
Analyst comment
Commenting on the findings, Bert Colijn, chief economist with ING in the Netherlands, said, “Production dropped for capital, intermediate and durable consumer goods, while non-durable and energy production was up. Current weakness relates more and more to lacking demand.
“For the coming months, it does not look like a turnaround is happening. Surveys have remained weak for manufacturing, suggesting further contraction. This means that the eurozone economy remains reliant on service sector growth to maintain GDP growth recovery. The first two quarters of the year were better than expected, but the uptick may have been short-lived.
“With manufacturing performing poorly, a GDP growth rate of 0.3% may be the top of what can be expected for the eurozone for the foreseeable future.”
