Eurozone Industrial Production Growth Strongest In 5 Months

(RTTNews) - Euro area industrial production increased at the fastest pace in five months in October led by robust output growth in the energy sector and non-durable goods manufacturing, preliminary data from the statistical office Eurostat showed on Monday.

The industrial production index for Eurozone rose a calendar adjusted 2.0 percent year-on-year following a 1.2 percent increase in September. Economists had forecast a 1.9 percent gain.

The pace of increase in production was the strongest since May, when output grew 3.0 percent.

Non-durable consumer goods sector logged a 4.9 percent surge in production, which was the biggest increase among the main industrial sectors. This was followed by a 4.5 percent rise in the energy output.

Production of durable consumer goods was 0.7 percent higher from a year ago. Both capital goods and intermediate goods output increased 0.5 percent each.

In the EU, industrial production rose 1.9 percent year-on-year after a 2.0 percent increase in the previous month. Growth was led by the production of non-durable consumer goods and energy. Among the EU member states, the biggest annual gains in industrial production were registered in Ireland, Latvia, Greece and Sweden. The worst declines were observed in Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary.

Industrial production in the euro area rose for a second straight month in the monthly comparison, up 0.8 percent in October after a 0.2 percent increase in September. That was in line with economists' expectations. Eurozone manufacturing activity weakened in November as new orders decreased signaling fresh headwinds to demand, results of the S&P Global purchasing managers' survey showed earlier this month.

Output expanded for the ninth month in a row, while factory job losses intensified and inventory levels were depleted at a faster rate the survey showed.