Manufacturing growth slows

  • 2011-12-07
  • From wire reports

TALLINN - Production at industrial enterprises rose 2 percent compared to the same month of the previous year for October, according to data from Statistics Estonia, reports LETA. The annual growth rate of industrial production was smaller than in the previous month. The slowdown of the growth was most of all influenced by the production of electronic products and energy.

If at the beginning of the year the production at industrial enterprises grew by 30 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, then since May the growth has slightly slowed and remained around 20 percent. The main reason for the slowdown was the slowly growing comparison basis, but since September the growth in the manufacture of electronic products slowed abruptly, which influenced significantly the indicator of total industrial production.
In October, the production at manufacturing firms increased by 5 percent compared to October of the previous year. Export sales influenced the growth in production the most – about 70 percent of the entire manufacturing output was sold on the external market. Export sales of the manufacturing production grew 3 percent.

In October, production exceeded the volume of the same month of the previous year in most branches of industry. As previously, manufacturing of electronic products influenced the growth in production the most.
The many-fold growth in production of electronic products in the first months of the year has slowed and was 12 percent higher in October compared to October of the previous year. Nevertheless, the production in this industry branch was about 20 percent higher than in September. The branches of industry also holding larger shares were the manufacture of wood products, food and electrical equipment where production grew 2 percent, 1 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Production decreased in the manufacture of metal and plastic products and motor vehicles.
In October, compared to September, the seasonally adjusted total industrial production increased 3 percent; in manufacturing the increase was 4 percent.

Compared to October 2010, the production of electricity decreased 13 percent and the production of heat 20 percent. The decrease in electricity production was caused partly by the replacement of own production with imports, due to the low price offer of hydroelectricity from Nordic countries.