15 February, 2000
Inquiries: Mr Rami Peltola +358 9 1734 3615, Mr Kari
Rautio +358 9 1734 2479
Director in charge: Mr Ilkka Hyppönen
Industrial output grew by record 16 per cent in December
According to Statistics Finland, Finnish industrial output as calculated per working day went up by 16 per cent in the year to December 1999. The record growth is partly explained by a close on 22 per cent increase in output in the wood and paper industry. The electronics industry also returned to a good 40 per cent growth after a couple of months of modest performance. The high growth percentage is further influenced by the fact that in the comparison period, i.e. December 1998, industrial output showed no growth on the previous year.
Output in the chemical industry increased by good 8 per cent in December. In other manufacturing, too, output grew by close on 7 per cent, thanks largely to the manufacture of food and beverages, where output rose by good 13 per cent.
Capacity utilisation rate in manufacturing was 86 per cent in December, which is good 4 per cent higher than in December 1998. In the pulp and paper industry, capacity utilisation rate was 93 per cent, in the metal industry 88 per cent, and in the chemical industry 77 per cent.
In the year to December, Finnish industrial output grew by good 15 per cent (seasonally adjusted). According to the OECD's seasonally adjusted series, output in the United States was up by 5 per cent on the year before. The growth figure for Japan was also the same.
Industrial output went up by 5.5 per cent last year
The volume of industrial output was 5.5 per cent greater last year than in 1998. The tractive force in the growth of Finnish industrial output continued to be the electronics industry where output increased by good 24 per cent. Against this, output in the rest of the metal industry decreased by 1.5 per cent. In the chemical industry, as well as in the wood and paper industry, output grew by approximately 3 per cent. In other manufacturing, output stayed at the level of the year before last.
New instant preliminary data on change in industrial output
Statistics Finland will start releasing the change percentage of total industrial output as instant preliminary data. The data will be released on the last weekday of each month and will relate to the previous month's industrial output. The instant preliminary data will be based on the data by establishment available to Statistics Finland by the time of the publication. Preliminary data on the change of output by industry will continue to be released mid-month, as before.
The first instant preliminary data will be released at 7.00 am Finnish time on 29 February 2000. No printed publication will be prepared, but the data will be made public in the form of a press release only. It will be available in electronic format on Statistics Finland's Internet pages at www.stat.fi
After a couple of years' break, Statistics Finland will also resume the publication of quarterly statistics on the inventories of industrial enterprises in a revised format. The first one of these will come in week 8, at the latest, when data will be released on the last quarter of 1999 and, retrospectively, since the first quarter of 1995. These statistics will be available on the Internet from Statistics Finland's StatFin service at http://statfin.stat.fi/
Source: Volume Index of Industrial Output 1999, December. Statistics Finland