Industrial output in the euro area and the EU stabilised in April, and in Croatia it dropped for the first time in five months, show figures released on Wednesday by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In April 2023, the seasonally adjusted industrial production increased by 1.0% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU, compared with March 2023.

In March 2023, industrial production decreased by 3.8% in the euro area and by 3.2% in the EU.

In the euro area in April 2023, compared with March 2023, production of capital goods grew by 14.7% and energy by 1.0%, while production of intermediate goods fell by 1.0%, durable consumer goods by 2.6% and non-durable consumer goods by 3.0%.

In the EU, production of capital goods grew by 12.1% and energy by 0.3%, while production of intermediate goods
fell by 1.0%, durable consumer goods and non-durable consumer goods both by 2.2%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the highest monthly increases were registered in Ireland (+21.5%), Lithuania (+2.8%) and Sweden (+1.4%).

In Croatia the seasonally adjusted industrial production dropped by 2.3% compared to March, when it grew 0.7%. The April decrease in industrial production is the first since November 2022, when it dropped by 1.4%.

The largest decreases were observed in Slovenia (-7.9%), Portugal (-5.5%) and the Netherlands (-3.5%).

Stagnation on annual level

In the euro area and the EU industrial production rose only slightly in April 2023, compared with April 2022, by 0.2% and 0.1% respectively.

In March it dropped by 1.4% in the euro area and by 1.2% in the EU.

Production of capital goods rose the most in both the euro area and the EU, by 8.3% and 8.8% respectively, following declines of 1.6 and 0.8% in March.

The production of nondurable consumer goods rose as well, by 0.6% in the euro area and 1.8% in the EU, albeit more slowly than in March.

Production in other sectors dropped, notably energy production, which went down by 7.4% in the euro area and by 8.3% in the EU.

Among Member States for which data are available, the highest annual increases were registered in Ireland (+22.5%), Malta (+14.3%) and Denmark (+12.2%).

The largest decreases were observed in Estonia (-15.1%), the Netherlands (-12.8%) and Bulgaria (-12.5%).

In Croatia industrial production in April dropped year-on-year by 3.4%, which is the largest decrease since May 2022 and the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. In March it dropped 0.8% year-on-year.