Good news from the Italian industry. According to Istat, in December the seasonally adjusted index of industrial production recorded an increase of 1,6% compared to November, doubling the consensus (+0,8%) and surpassing the previous month's survey by eight times ( +0,2% revised from 0,0%). On average for the October-December 2017 quarter, production increased by 0,8% compared to the previous three months.
Corrected for calendar effects, the index increased in trend terms by 4,9% (working days were 18 against 20 in December 2016). The figure is clearly higher than expected (+1,9%) and the November reading (+2,3% revised from +2,2%).
Furthermore, considering the average for the whole of 2017, production increased by 3% compared to the previous year.
The seasonally adjusted monthly index, explains Istat, records positive cyclical changes in the grouping of capital goods (+4,7%), intermediate goods (+2,6%) and consumer goods (+1,9%). ; a negative change marks instead the energy sector (-1,5%).
In trend terms, the indices corrected for calendar effects recorded a significant increase in December 2017 for capital goods (+9,1%); significantly increased also intermediate goods (+5,7%) and consumer goods (+5,5%) while a negative change marks the energy sector (-3,1%)
Finally, the Institute notes that the sectors of economic activity that recorded the greatest trend growth in December are those of the manufacture of machinery and equipment nec (+15,6%), of the other manufacturing industries, repair and installation of machinery and equipment ( +12,1%) and metallurgy and metal products, excluding machinery and plants (+10,1%).
Decreases were instead recorded in the sectors of computer manufacturing, electronic and optical products, electro-medical devices, measuring devices and watches (-6,1%), mining (-3,5%) and the supply of electricity , gas, steam and air (-2,2%).
