Brussels, 21/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - After three consecutive months in the red, industrial production of the euro zone rose by 0.6%, corrected for seasonable variations, during June compared to May this year, according to estimations published on Monday by Eurostat. Industrial production had fallen in May and April, by 0.2% and 0.9% respectively. In the Europe of Fifteen, industrial production increased by 0.7%. At an annual rate, the volume of industrial production progressed 1.4% in the euro zone and 0.9% in the European Union. Durable consumer goods, that showed the highest growth rates of all sectors, progressed 0.9% in the euro zone and 0.8% in the EU15. The investment good index increased by 0.5% in the euro zone and by 0.7% in the EU15, like non-durable consumer goods (+0.2% in the euro zone and +0.3% in the EU15). Intermediary goods remained stable in both areas. Energy remained stable in the euro zone, but dropped 0.2% in the EU15.
In June, industrial production increased in most Member States for which information is available, except Finland (-0.4%) and Spain (-0.3%). The largest increases were recorded in the Netherlands (4.4%) and Belgium (1.8%), with the growth rates of the other Member States varying between 0.8% and 0.1%. As far as annual variations are concerned, industrial production increased in Denmark (3.6%), Portugal (3%), Germany and Luxembourg (2%), France (0.9%), the Netherlands (0.7%) and Italy (0.6%). The other Member States, for which data were given, recorded falls of 3.3% for Finland, 2.7% for the United Kingdom, 0.7% for Spain and 0.5% for Belgium.