In December 2018 industrial production dropped by 2.7 percent year-on-year in the European Union, with Croatia among EU countries recording one of the largest drops, Eurostat reported on Wednesday.

Croatia had posted a 6.6 percent year-on-year drop in December 2018, with only Ireland and Spain recording even larger declines, at 19.8 percent and 6.7 percent respectively.

The largest increases were in Denmark (14.3 percent), Hungary (5.8 percent) and Estonia (5.7 percent).

By product category, capital goods, which are any goods sold to manufacturers to produce other goods rather than sold to customers – recorded the largest drop, at 4.2 percent in the EU.

The smallest decrease was in non-durable consumer goods – which includes products intended to be consumed immediately or with a short lifespan, such as food, beverages, shoes, clothing, fuels – which inched down 0.2 percent.

Industrial production figures published by Eurostat are used to measure changes in the volume of output of the industrial sector, which includes all manufacturing, mining, and utilities.

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