Luxembourg, 21/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - Eurostat states that industrial production in the euro zone increased by 2% in December 2000, compared to November, following a rise of 1.2% in November and a fall of 0.2% in October. As for the Europe of the Fifteen (EU15), it increased by 1.4%, in December, following a rise of 0.9% in November and 0.4% in October.
In December 2000, the most marked increases were in capital goods and durable consumer goods both in the euro zone and in the EU15. The indices for non-durable consumer goods and intermediary goods were also up. The Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Italy and Germany recorded increases higher than the EU average, whereas Luxembourg, Finland, Spain and the United Kingdom recorded decreases.
Eurostat indicates, moreover, that, in annual terms, the volume of industrial production increased in December 2000 by 8% in the euro zone and 7.2% in the EU15 compared to December 1999. The highest increases were recorded in capital goods and durable consumer goods (respectively +14.7% and +11.5% in the euro zone and +13.8% and +10.2% in the EU15). Intermediate goods and non-durable consumer goods had more modest increases. From a geographical point of view, production rose sharply in Italy (+13.1%), Denmark (+10.5%) and Germany (+10.3%) whereas production fell slightly (0.2%) in Luxembourg.