As with other countries’ measures of industrial production, Eurostat’s industrial production index measures the output and activity of industrial sectors in euro-zone countries in aggregate. Following a recession in 2009/2010 and the debt-crisis of 2010-2012 which flowed from it, euro-zone industrial production recovered and then reached a peak four years later in early-2016. Growth rates then slowed through the rest of 2016, accelerated during 2017 and then began a steady and persistent slowdown.
According to the latest figures released by Eurostat, euro-zone industrial production declined by a seasonally-adjusted 2.1% in December, much lower than the 0.2% fall which had been expected and also noticeably lower than November’s flat result. On an annual basis, seasonally-adjusted growth in industrial production deteriorated from November’s revised rate of -1.7% to -3.5%* in December.
ANZ senior economist Felicity Emmett described the report’s figures as “dire” while NAB economist Tapas Strickland used the term “woeful”.
Industrial production growth rates contracted in all of the eurozone’s four largest economies. Industrial production contracted by 2.5% in Germany, in France by 2.9%, in Spain by 1.5% and by 2.7% in Italy.