Strong growth in industrial output continued in January

Industrial output grew by 7.6 per cent in the year to January, the index per working day of Statistics Finland indicates. Growth was the strongest in the wood and paper industry.

The production of pulp and paper reached its record level of the beginning of 1995 in January. Output in the paper industry grew by close on 15 per cent from January 1996. Output of wood products was also nearly 17 per cent greater than in January of the year before.

Output in the metal industry was up by 6 per cent in the year to January. Output grew in all main sectors of the metal industry except in the manufacture of transport equipment. The highest increase in output was in the manufacture of electrical equipment, up by nearly 11 per cent.

In the chemical industry output increased by just under 8 per cent on the year before. Output in other manufacturing grew by some 4 per cent. Growth was particularly sharp in the production of furniture, where the increase was nearly 15 per cent. The production of foodstuffs grew by a good 9 per cent.

Output of investment goods was a full 16 per cent greater compared to January of last year. The output of consumer goods grew by 3.5 per cent, and that of output commodities by about 7 per cent.

The capacity utilisation rate in manufacturing was 86 per cent in January. In the metal industry, the utilisation rate was 88 per cent, in the wood and paper industry 93, in the chemical industry 81 and in other manufacturing 77 per cent.

Source: Volume Index of Industrial Output, January 1997
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