The total production of manufacturing fell for the third month in a row in April this year, Statistics Estonia reported.
Meanwhile the total production of industrial enterprises overall fell by 3.8 percent on year to April, the agency said.
Of the three industrial sectors, while output rose by 14.3 percent in mining, it fell by 14.9 percent in energy production and by 3.2 percent in manufacturing, marking the third consecutive month for this to happen in the case of the latter sector.
Commenting on the results, Riin Kadarik, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said manufacturing output continued to fall in April, as it had in March and February, adding: “The main reason for this was the 8 percent decrease in the manufacture of food products. In this activity, there has been a year-on-year decline in output for four months in a row. It is likely that the conflict in the Middle East has started to affect supply chains, and inflation also continues to influence food manufacturing,” Kadarik went on.
In April, production increased in slightly more than half of manufacturing activities, Statistics Estonia reported. Among major industries, output rose by 2.9 percent in wood manufacturing, 6.5 percent in fabricated metal products, and 9.5 percent in computers, electronic and optical products, driven mainly by increased production of communication equipment. Fabricated metal products saw higher output of structural metal products, while electrical equipment also continued modest growth at 0.9 percent, the agency said.
Statistics: Two-thirds of manufacturing output in Estonia was exported
A total of 66.8 percent of total manufacturing production was sold to the external market, i.e. exported, a share which was slightly higher than in March.
Year on year to April, the sales of manufacturing production increased by 1.9 percent at current prices according to working-day adjusted data. Domestic sales were down by 0.8 percent, while export sales grew by 3.6 percent, Statistics Estonia reported.
Between March and April, seasonally adjusted total industrial production grew by 1.2 percent and manufacturing production was unchanged.
In the energy sector, output decreased by 14.9 percent at constant prices. Based on production volume in megawatt-hours, electricity production fell by 23.9 percent while heat production grew by 3 percent in April year on year. “The fall in electricity production can mostly be attributed to increased imports,” noted Kadarik.
Statistics Estonia compiled the above report on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.
More detailed information is available from Statistics Estonia’s site here, here, and here.
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