THE DYNAMICS of the industry in Slovakia continues to slow down. The seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by only 1.2 percent year-on-year in September, compared to June’s 7.6 percent, July’s 4.4 percent and August’s 2.7 percent, the SITA newswire reported.
September’s industrial production index was affected mostly by a growth in mining and quarrying by 4 percent y/y and in manufacturing by 1.6 percent y/y. On the other hand, it dropped in electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply by 3.2 percent y/y, the Statistics Office (ŠÚ) informed on November 10.
The increase of the total industrial production was affected by the growth in manufacture of electrical equipment by 25.8 percent y/y; manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products except machinery and equipment by 7.6 percent y/y; manufacture of machinery and equipment by 7.7 percent; other manufacture, repair and installation of machinery and equipment by 5.7 percent y/y; manufacture of food, beverages and tobacco products by 4.6 percent y/y and in manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products by 6.5 percent y/y. The volume of production fell in manufacture of transport equipment by 4.4 percent y/y and in manufacture of textiles, apparel, leather and related products by 8.8 percent y/y.
Regarding the main industrial groupings, an increase was recorded in production of durable consumer goods by 7.8 percent y/y and production of intermediate goods by 6.3 percent y/y. Production of investment goods dropped by 2.6 percent y/y, production related to energy by 1.4 percent y/y and production of non-durable consumer goods by 0.9 percent y/y, according to ŠÚ.
Over the first nine months of 2014, IPI grew by 4.7 percent y/y, of which in manufacturing by 6.6 percent, and mining and quarrying by 3.9 percent y/y. Production was lower in electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply by 9.2 percent.
The statistical data showed that the industrial production in September in fact stagnated on August levels as after seasonal adjustment it dropped by 0.1 percent month-on-month, said VÚB bank analyst Andrej Arady. He added that in August Slovak industry reported better numbers than that of the EU, but in September the situation changed. While the other countries were affected by the drop in car production immediately, it took some time for Slovakia to be impacted, Arady said, as reported by SITA.
The result is a continuing drop in production of the car industry in Slovakia and a slow-down in the total annual increase of Slovak industry. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland on the other hand reported significant revival after the August decline and have in fact erased the loss. This however has not happened in Germany yet. The country has erased only one half of its losses, Arady warned.
“In spite of the fact that the September numbers are obviously weaker than we expected, we still keep a slightly positive outlook,” Arady said, as quoted by SITA. “Since neighbouring countries have erased their previous losses and Germany, though partially, also reported some restoration, we can still expect that the revival will come also to Slovakia; though only slowly.”
Source: Statistics Office website, SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
