THE Spanish industry suffered a drop of 8.1 points in August compared to the previous month, i.e. its production contracted by 3.5% in the eighth month of the year compared to the same month of 2023, according to the General index of industrial production (IPI) prepared by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) and published this Friday.
In fact, August’s decline is the largest since last June, when it contracted -4.2%. Thus, the production of Spanish industry amounts to negative annual rates after recording an increase of 4.6% in July.
The biggest decline occurred in:
- Capital goods: -7.8%
- Non-durable consumer goods: -4.7%
- Energy: -1.9%
- Intermediate goods: -1.2%
Spanish industry in August
In August, industrial production saw a decline of 0.1% year-on-year, mainly due to declines in almost all sectors except consumer durable goods, whose production increased by 0.4%. This drop was slightly lower than that recorded in July (-0.4%), reflecting a slight improvement in the rate.
By autonomous communitiesthe largest year-over-year declines were recorded in Catalonia (-8.4%), Andalusia (-7.7%) and Madrid, Murcia And Cantabriawhich fell by 6.1%.
On the other hand, some regions have made progress in their industrial production, such as Castile and León (+9%), La Rioja (+8%), Navarre (+6.2%), the Basque Country (+3.6%) and Galicia (+0.3%).
During the first eight months of the year, industrial production showed an average increase of 0.4%, highlighting the growth of sectors such as computer and electronic products (+18.3%) and products pharmacists (+12%). However, other sectors suffered significant declines, such as manufacturing of clothes (-11.7%) and industry leather and shoes (-6.8%).
In monthly terms (August vs. July), industrial production decreased by 0.1%, an improvement from the monthly decline of 0.4% in July. The only sector that saw growth was consumer durable goods, with an increase of 3.3%, while consumer non-durable goods saw the biggest decline, with a drop of 1.1%.
