Overall, industrial production in EA, EU fell to levels last seen in 1990s, Eurostat says
The EU’s industrial output went down sharply by 28% in April, when the novel coronavirus peaked in the continent, compared to the same month last year, the bloc’s statistical office reported on Friday.
Eurostat said the figure was also down 27.2% in eurozone over the same period.
The eurozone/euro area or EA19 represents member states that use the single currency euro while the EU27 includes all member countries of the bloc.
“These are the largest annual falls recorded since the start of the series, exceeding the -21.3% in the euro area and -20.7% in the EU observed in April 2009.
“Overall, industrial production in the euro area and EU has fallen to levels last seen in the mid-1990s,” Eurostat said.
In the EU, among main industrial groups, the production of durable consumer goods fell the most, down 45.4% year-on-year in April.
It was followed by capital goods (40.8%), intermediate goods (23.6%), non-durable consumer goods (12.5%) and energy (12.4%).
Among member states, the highest annual decreases were seen in Luxembourg (-43.9%), Italy(-42.5%) and Slovakia (-42%).
“The only increase was observed in Ireland (+5.5%),” Eurostat said.
Several sectors were hit by the measures taken to stem the spread of the virus, such as lockdowns and travel restrictions.