Accelerated growth in industrial output in June

Industrial output grew by 4.4 per cent in the year to June according to the index per working day of Statistics Finland. Growth accelerated in the second quarter of the year, in particular in June. Output was 1.7 per cent higher in the first half of this year than it was in the corresponding period of last year.

Output in the metal industry was up by over 10 per cent in the year to June. Output grew in all main sectors of the metal industry. The highest increase in output was in the manufacture of metals, just under 16 per cent, and the manufacture of electrical products was up by 13.5 per cent.

In the wood and paper industry output decreased by 9.2 per cent compared to June of last year. The manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products fell by 14.5 per cent, whereas output in the mechanical wood industry grew by 2 per cent.

Output in other manufacturing, which mainly describes industrial output on the domestic markets, picked up by 3.5 per cent in the year to June.

Output of investment goods was 10.5 per cent greater than in June of the year before. The output of consumer goods also picked up, where the increase was 5.8 per cent on the year before.

The greatest increase in the January to June period was in the manufacture of electrical products, almost 11 on the year before. Growth was also significant in the foodstuffs industry, and in the manufacture of machinery and metal products, which grew by 3-5 per cent. Nevertheless output fell in over half of the main sectors of the manufacturing industry. The production of pulp and paper products decreased the most, by close on 12 per cent. The production of clothing, leather products and footwear fell by almost 8 per cent, while the production of textiles, furniture and chemical products were down by 4-5 per cent.

Utilisation rates were still lower than those of the year before. In June just under 82 per cent of the capacity in manufacturing was in use, which is 5 percentage points less than the year before. In the metal industry the utilisation rate was over 88 per cent, which is 5 percentage points less than the year before. The utilisation rate in the wood and paper industry was a 80 per cent, which is over 11 percentage points less than in June of last year.

Source: Volume Index of Industrial Output, June 1996
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