2021.01.1311:01:00UTC+00Eurozone Industrial Production Growth Improves In November

Eurozone industrial production growth accelerated unexpectedly in November driven by robust growth in capital goods output, data from Eurostat showed Wednesday.

Industrial output climbed 2.5 percent month-on-month, faster than the 2.3 percent increase seen in October. This was the fastest growth in four months and far exceeded the economists' forecast of 0.2 percent.

Production of capital goods advanced 7 percent and that of intermediate goods gained 1.5 percent. Meanwhile, energy output declined 3.9 percent. Durable and non-durable consumer goods production slid 1.2 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

On a yearly basis, the decline in industrial production slowed to 0.6 percent from 3.5 percent in October. Output was forecast to fall 3.3 percent.

In the EU27, industrial production grew 2.3 percent on month in November but decreased 0.4 percent from the same period last year.

Among member countries, Ireland posted the biggest monthly growth of 52.8 percent. Meanwhile, the largest decreases were seen in Portugal, Belgium and Croatia.

Looking ahead, there is now much less room for "catch-up" growth as factories get back to normal, and prospects for the first quarter will be adversely affected by the extended lockdowns now in place, Jack Allen-Reynolds, an economist at Capital Economics, said.