16 August, 1999
Inquiries: Mr Rami Peltola +358 9 1734 3615, Mr Kari Rautio
+358 9 1734 2479
Director in charge: Mr Ilkka Hyppönen
Industrial output boosted by hot weather in June
According to Statistics Finland, industrial output as calculated per working day grew by 5.6 per cent in the year to June. In May, output only increased by 2 per cent.
The favourable weather in June boosted peat extraction. Output in mining and quarrying grew by as much as 105 per cent in June. More foodstuffs and beverages were also produced this June than in June 1998. After the dip in May, output in the electronics industry also resumed its path of strong growth and went up by 37 per cent compared to last year's June. There was also a slight increase in the output of the chemical industry. Output in the wood and paper industry grew by 1.9 per cent in June. The decline in output, which had lasted for nearly 12 months in the paper industry, halted and turned to a good 2 per cent growth in June.
June capacity utilisation rate in manufacturing was 85 per cent, which is just short of 2 percentage points lower than twelve months earlier. In the pulp and paper industry, capacity utilisation rate was 88 per cent, in the metal industry nearly 87 per cent and in the chemical industry 78 per cent.
In the January - June period, output was up by 5.4 per cent compared to last year's corresponding period. In the metal industry, output increased by good 14 per cent, thanks to the electronics industry, where output went up by over 42 per cent. Against this, output in the wood and paper industry contracted by one per cent. In the chemical industry, output fell by 0.2 per cent and in other manufacturing by 2 per cent compared to the January to June period last year.
By international comparison, the nearly 6 per cent growth rate in Finnish industrial output in June was quite fast. In the United States, industrial output grew by 2.7 per cent in the year to June. In Russia, industrial output went up by 9 per cent. Industrial output fell by 0.2 per cent in Germany and Japan and by just under one per cent in Britain.
Source: Volume Index of Industrial Output 1999, June. Statistics Finland