Eurozone industrial production plunged by a record 17.1 per cent in April, as the coronavirus pandemic caused major disruption to businesses across almost all manufacturing and construction sectors of the European economy. The figures were slightly better than most analysts had expected, but still underline how many factories and building sites were forced to close or drastically scale back their activities due to the strict lockdowns imposed to contain coronavirus.
While production has been increasing recently at many manufacturing and construction companies, the 17.1 percent decline was the biggest fall since records started in 1991, according to Eurostat. Economists surveyed by Reuters had on average expected a decline of 20 percent. The previous record fall was in March when eurozone industrial production dropped 11.3 percent. Over the past year, industrial output has fallen 28 percent across the 19-country bloc, surpassing the annual 21.3 percent decline in April 2009 after the financial crisis.
“In April 2020, the Covid-19 containment measures widely introduced by member states continued to have a significant impact on industrial production,” said Eurostat. “Overall, industrial production in the euro area and EU has fallen to levels last seen in the mid-199os.” In the UK, industrial production fell by a historical 20.3 percent between March and April, the Office for National Statistics announced separately on Friday.
That was mirrored by similar monthly falls in April industrial output reported recently by the eurozone’s four large economies: Spain’s fell 21.8 percent; France was down 20.1 percent, Italy decreased 19.1 percent and Germany declined 18 percent.