Industrial production down for five months in row

Industrial production in Slovakia fell for the fifth consecutive month in December, going down by 7.1% year-on-year (y-o-y), indicate the data released by the Statistics Office. This was due to annual decreases in industrial manufacturing (by 8.5%) and in supplies of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (1.9%). Meanwhile, output in mining and quarrying increased by 9.7% y-o-y. The drop in the overall industrial production can mainly be ascribed to decreases in the production of transport vehicles (by 11%); of metals and metallic structures excluding machines and equipment (15.2%); of rubber, plastics and other non-metallic mineral products (15.9%); of computer, electronic and optical products (21.9%); and of wooden and paper products and printing (8.9%). Meanwhile, output was up only in the production of electrical devices (23.3%) and in mining and quarrying (9.7%). Industrial output rose by 0.4% y-o-y in 2019, which was due to annual hikes in supplies of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (by 5.6%) and in mining and quarrying (5.2%). Conversely, output in industrial manufacturing dropped by 0.4%.