Bad news for the Italian industry. According to the latest Istat data, in October the seasonally adjusted index of production fell by 0,9% compared to September and by 4,2% on an annual basis. It is the worst result since December 2009, when a -6,6% was recorded.
Average of quarter August-October, the index fell by 0,5% compared to the July-September period. In the former ten months on the other hand, production grew by 0,6% over the same period of the previous year. In October 2011, the indices corrected for calendar effects recorded a tendential weakening for all sectors.
Consumer goods and energy fell more markedly (both -5,3%) and, to a lesser extent, the groupings of intermediate goods (-3,8%) and capital goods (-3,0% ). In the trend comparison, the industrial sectors characterized by the most marked growth are mining (+13,3%) and the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations (+4,6%).
The sectors that recorded the largest trend decreases in October were instead the manufacture of chemical products (-12,4%), the textile, clothing, leather and accessories industries (-8,0%) and the wood, paper and printing (-7,5%).
