31 January 2002
Inquiries: Mr Rami Peltola +358 9 1734 3615, Mr Kari
Rautio +358 9 1734 2479
Director in charge: Mr Ilkka Hyppönen
Industrial output fell by 3.1 per cent in December from the year before
According to Statistics Finland, industrial output as calculated per working day was 3.1 per cent lower in December than one year previously. Adjusted for seasonal variation, output in December also fell by nearly one per cent from November.
In the metal industry, output as calculated per working day declined by good 3 per cent in the year to December. Output in the electrical industry fell by nearly 12 per cent. In contrast, output in the rest of the metal industry rose by good 5 per cent. Output in the wood and paper industry fell by over 9 per cent and in the chemical industry by just under 3 per cent. In other manufacturing output rose by close on one per cent. The cold December raised energy production by good 6 per cent.
Capacity utilisation rate in manufacturing was good 78 per cent in December, which is 6 percentage points lower than in December 2000. In the pulp and paper industry, capacity utilisation rate was nearly 82 per cent, in the metal industry good 81 per cent and in the chemical industry close on 74 per cent. Capacity utilisation rate in other manufacturing was almost 73 per cent.
Industrial output down by one per cent in 2001
Last year industrial output fell by one per cent. Industrial output last decreased ten years ago. The exceptionally long period of continuous growth for Finnish industrial output ended last year. Despite the fall of industrial output, 80 per cent more goods were produced in 2001 than in the year of recession 1991.
These preliminary data are based on information available to Statistics Finland by 30 January. The revised growth percentage of industrial output and data by industry for December will be published on the Internet in the StatFin statistical service on 15 February 2002 at 8 am.
The base year of the Volume Index of Industrial Output and release practices change
The figures published in this press release will alter slightly when the base year of the Volume Index of Industrial Output is changed on 28 February 2002. Then the new base year of the index will be the year 2000 and its weight structure by industry will be revised. At the same time a new method is introduced where industry-specific weights are changed annually, while until now fixed value data for the base year have been used as industry-specific weights. Fixed weights of the base year cause more bias the longer the distance is to the base year and the larger the structural changes that have occurred in industry. The methodological change will reduce this bias.
The figures for January 2002 will be published on 28 February, when seasonally adjusted figures start to be presented in press releases in line with international practices. Seasonally adjusted figures can be compared to the previous month, whereby the present practice, in which the figures for industrial output are compared to those one year previously, will be used less in the news. Seasonally adjusted comparison reveals the turning points of the economy faster than comparison to the situation one year ago. On the other hand, seasonally adjusted figures change along with new observations more than figures calculated per working day.
In the chart below last year's monthly development of industrial output is given both as seasonally adjusted compared to the previous month and as the usual working day adjusted comparison to the previous year's corresponding period. On the basis of seasonally adjusted figures, economic slumps and booms are generally detected earlier than when compared to one year ago. Seasonally adjusted figures indicate that the growth of Finland's industry already halted at the turn of 2000/2001. Described by annual change, the growth did not stop until April 2001.
Source: Volume Index of Industrial Output 2001,
December, preliminary data. Statistics Finland
StatFin statistical service at: statfin.stat.fi