April chemicals production in the EU and eurozone fell by 1.6% and 1.8% respectively from the previous month, official data showed on Wednesday
Chemicals production in both regions fell on a year-on-year basis also, declining by 4.0% in the EU and 4.2% in the eurozone, according to initial estimates by Eurostat.
Total industrial production increased from the previous month, up by 0.3% in the EU and 0.4% higher in the eurozone.
On a year-on-year basis, industrial production fell by 0.8% in the EU and by 0.6% in the eurozone.
Among the member states for which data are available, industrial production rose in 10 and fell in11, compared with the previous month.
“The highest increases were registered in Ireland (+3.0%), France (+2.3%) and Romania (+1.9%), and the largest decreases in Finland (-5.1%), the Netherlands (-4.3%) and Portugal (-3.6%),” Eurostat said.
Compared to April 2012, industrial production fell in 13 and rose in eight.
“The largest decreases were registered in Finland (-10.2%), Italy (-4.6%) and the Czech Republic (-3.4%), and the highest increases in Romania (+12.6%), Lithuania (+5.0%) and Estonia (+2.7%),” the official European statistics agency said.