In January the Italian industrial production it grew 1% month-on-month. This was announced by Istat, specifying that this is the largest economic increase since August 2011 (a decrease of 0,8% was recorded in December, a figure revised from the previous -0,9%). Corrected for calendar effects, the index increased in trend terms by 1,4% (against -0,7% in December), while the average increase for the November-January quarter was 0,7 % compared to the August-October period. The numbers beat economists' estimates, which had forecast January for a 0,4% month-on-month increase and a 0,7% year-on-year decline.
The indices show increases in the sectors of intermediate goods (+4,5%), capital goods (+2,7%) and, to a lesser extent, consumer goods (+0,6%). A marked decline, on the other hand, marks the energy sector (-5,3%).
Compared to January 2013, the sectors characterized by the most marked growth were the following: the manufacture of means of transport (+12,0%), metallurgy and manufacture of metal products, excluding machinery and plants ( +9,6%), the manufacture of rubber and plastic products, other non-metallic mineral products (+5,9%) and other manufacturing industries, repair and installation of machines and equipment (+3,8 %).
Among the sectors in decline, however, those that recorded the largest trend declines in January are mining (-6,5%), computer manufacturing, electronic and optical products, electromedical equipment, measuring equipment and watches (-6,4%) and the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air (-5,6%).
