Growth in industrial output from late 2009 stalls in January

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According to figures released by Statistics Finland on Wednesday, the modest growth witnessed in industrial output in the last months of 2009 did not continue into the new year.
      The seasonally adjusted month-on-month numbers, which showed a frail upward trend from October through December, were down by 1.8% in January from the December figure.
     
Gross industrial output in Finland stood at the same level as in January 2009, dashing hopes that the tentative recovery might be a more sustained affair, albeit that for most of 2009 the year-on-year figures had showed a substantial deficit relative to the comparison month 12 months previously.
      For example in December 2009, output was nearly 6% below that for December 2008, and in May of last year the working day adjusted change in industrial output from the corresponding month in 2008 was as much as 25.6% down.
     
The strong surge in the forest industry did spill over into the new year, however, with production being 13.1 per cent higher than in last year's January.
      Output in the chemical industry also grew, with production adjusted for working days topping last January's level by 4.3%.
      Production of electricity and heat also grew by 12% from one year ago, and there was a marginal improvement in the electrical and electronics sector.
The big faller was the metals industry, which was down overall by some 7%, and if the modest growth in the electrical and electronics industry (+0.7%) is discounted, the slippage was even greater, at 11.1%.
     
On the positive side, the capacity utilisation rate in manufacturing was 72.8% in January. One year earlier it stood at 68 per cent.
      Capacity utilisation in the forest industry rose in January to 78.1%, having been languishing around ten percentage points lower in January 2009.
      Nevertheless, even this is fairly cold comfort, as capacity utilisation in this branch is still roughly seven percentage points down on the average for the 2000s.


See also:
  Recession hit Finland rapidly and reached depths of historic proportions (2.3.2010)

Links:
  Statistics Finland: Industrial output in January on level with the previous year

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