Growth in industrial output continued in July

Industrial output grew by 5.0 per cent in the year to July according to the index per working day of Statistics Finland. Holidays partly falling on the other summer months besides July also raised utilisation rates in the different branches of industry.

Output in the metal industry increased by 14.5 per cent in the year to July. Output grew in all main sectors of the metal industry. The manufacture of electrical products increased most, by a good 22 per cent.

In the wood and paper industry, instead, output decreased by 7.4 per cent compared to July of last year. The manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products fell by 9.4, whereas output of the mechanical wood industry grew by 3.6 per cent.

Output in other manufacturing increased in July by 5.2 per cent on the year before.

Output of investment goods was 13.3 per cent greater than in July of the year before. The output of consumer goods also picked up; their output increased by 7.7 per cent on the year before.

Of the entire capacity in manufacturing, 73 per cent was in use in July, which is 1.5 percentage points more than in July of the year before. In the metal industry, the utilisation rate was nearly 75 per cent, 5 percentage points up on the previous year, whereas in the wood and paper industry the utilisation rate remained at 82 per cent, 6 percentage points less than the year before. In other manufacturing, mainly in output on the domestic markets, the capacity utilisation rate was 65 per cent, a good 3 percentage points up on a year earlier. In the manufacture of building materials the utilisation rate also rose.

Source: Volume Index of Industrial Output, July 1996
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