Industrial production returns to positive rates after rising 5.3% in March

MADRID, 5 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The General Industrial Production Index (IPI) rose 5.3% year-on-year last March, a rate 6 points higher than that of February and the highest since August 2022, as reported this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics ( INE).

With the advance in March, industrial production returns to positive interannual rates after falling by 0.7% in February.

The production of the capital goods industry was the one that increased the most in the third month of the year, with a year-on-year increase of 12.6%. They are followed by durable consumer goods (7.1%); intermediate goods (4%); non-durable consumer goods (3.4%), and energy (1%).

By branches of activity, the ones that increased their production the most in the interannual rate were the manufacture of electrical material and equipment (28.6%) and the manufacture of motor vehicles (25.5%).

Among the decreases, the most pronounced were recorded by graphic arts (-13%); the wood and cork industry (-11.3%) and the textile industry (-4.9%).

Adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects, industrial production rose 4.5% in March compared to the same month in 2022, a rate 4.4 points higher than that of February.

In monthly terms (March over February), industrial production rose 1.5%, its biggest monthly rise since April 2022, when it soared 2.5%.

FIFTEEN COMMUNITIES INCREASE THE PRODUCTION OF THEIR INDUSTRY

Industrial production fell in March in the interannual rate in Navarra (-4.8%) and Murcia (-1.6%) and increased in the fifteen remaining autonomous communities.

The greatest increases were registered in Galicia (15.8%), Castilla y León (12%), Castilla-La Mancha (8.8%), Extremadura (8.4%) and the Valencian Community, where the production of the industrial sector increased by 7.9% compared to March 2022.

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION ADVANCES BY 1.5% IN THE MONTH

In monthly terms (March over February) and corrected for seasonal and calendar effects, industrial production increased by 1.5%, its highest monthly increase since April 2022, when it shot up by 2.5%.

By branches of activity, the only monthly decreases in production in the corrected series corresponded to coking plants and petroleum refining (-3.5%) and the manufacture of rubber and plastic products (-0.1%).

In contrast, the largest monthly increases in production were experienced by the wood and cork industry (18.8%); the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (9%), and the manufacture of electrical material and equipment (8.9%).