BRATISLAVA, May 9, (WEBNOVINY) — The growth rate of Slovakia’s industrial output in March continued to slow down. While in the second month of 2011, industrial production decelerated by 6.5 points to 10.8 percent, in March the growth pace fell to 6.8 percent. This is the slowest pace since the end of 2009, when industry resumed growth after the crisis year. After taking seasonal influences into account, industrial output in March increased by 1.1 percent from February, the Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic reported.
he growth rate of industrial manufacturing decreased only moderately from 10.6 percent in February to 10 percent in March. Mining and extraction of raw materials slipped into a y/y decrease of 17.8 percent, while production in distribution of electricity, gas, steam and cooled air shrank 6 percent. In contrast, the growth pace in energy supplies in the previous month grew by over 15 percent.
Regarding the main driving force of the Slovak industry, production of transport means did best when it grew from 16.3 percent in the second month to 21.6 percent y/y in the third month. Production of machinery went up 19.6 percent, while production of coke and crude oil products swelled by a two-digit figure, too. A y/y decrease of 1.4 percent was reported just in the production of electrical devices.
On average for the past three months, the production output index rose 11.3 percent y/y, with a 13.4 percent increase in industrial manufacturing, and a 3.4 percent in energy supplies. Output in mining and extraction of raw materials was 10.8 percent lower. Production of means of transport was 27.6 percent higher y/y after the first three months of this year. Production of machinery swelled 25.1 percent. Production in mining and extraction shrank 10.8 percent, and production of foodstuffs, beverages and tobacco products posted a drop of 1.5 percent.
Output in Slovakia’s industry continues last year’s trend of increases when production in Slovakia rebound after the steep downturn in 2009. While in 2009, industrial production dwindled 13.7 percent y/y under the influence of a fall in foreign demand due to the economic crisis, last year it already grew at a double-digit rate. Industrial output grew 18.9 percent on average over 2010 when all sectors posted growth except for production of coke and crude-oil products.
SITA
