Luxembourg, 19/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - According to estimations published by Eurostat on 18 February, industrial production in the eurozone fell by 1.5% last December compared to the previous month. It had risen by 0.7% in November, having stabilised in October. In the Union of Fifteen (EU15), production fell by 1.6% in December 2002, after an increase of 0.8% in November and a decrease of 0.2% in October. Durable consumer goods fell by 4.4% in the eurozone and 3.9% in the EU15. Capital goods decreased by 1.9% in the eurozone and 1.7% in the EU15, and intermediate goods dropped by 1.5% and 1.4% respectively. Non-durable consumer goods fell by 0.8% in the eurozone and 0.4% in the EU15. The energy index increased by 0.9% in the eurozone but decreased by 0.1% in the EU15. All member states recorded decreases except Sweden (+2.4%) and Portugal (+0.7%). The largest decreases were observed in Belgium (-6.0%), Ireland (-5.4%), Denmark (-3.5%) and Germany (-2.4%).
As an annual comparison (December 2002/December 2001), durable consumer goods dropped by 7.6% in the eurozone and 6.7% in the EU15 and the energy index fell by 5.0% and 4.5% respectively. Capital goods decreased by 0.4% in the eurozone and 0.8% in the EU15. Intermediate goods increased by 2.6% in the eurozone and 2.1% in the EU15, and non-durable consumer goods grew by 0.4% and 0.3% respectively. Finland (+7.9%), Luxembourg (+5.5%) and Greece (+5.1%) recorded the highest increases. The largest decreases were registered in Ireland (-6.7%), the Netherlands (-4.0%), Portugal and Sweden (both -2.7%). Eurostat has also indicated that the average production index for 2002 fell by 0.7% in the eurozone and 1.1% in the EU15 compared to 2001.