BRATISLAVA, March 10, (WEBNOVINY) – The high growth rate of sales in the Slovak industry persisted at the beginning of this year. As the Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic reported, the growth rate in January reached 19.5 percent, which was a slight slowdown from 22.3 percent in December 2010. In the first month of this year, sales in industry amounted to EUR 5.916 billion. Sales in industrial manufacturing alone grew 23.7 percent compared to the 25-percent growth in December. Sales in industry went up by 2 percent in monthly terms.
The Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic explains the y/y increase by higher sales in the production of transport means (+57.7 percent). Sales in the production of coke and refined crude oil products dwindled by 10.3 percent and the production of computer, electronic and optical products was affected by a 0.7-percent downtick.
Some other sectors, too, saw rising sales. For instance, sales in the construction sector grew for the second month in a row. They rose 8.7 percent versus January 2010 to EUR 403 million. Sales in the sectors of transport and storage jumped 7.4 percent to EUR 448.3 million. The ICT sector grew 7.1 percent in annual terms to EUR 378.5 million following a long-lasting y/y decline. Sales in selected market services surged 8.2 percent to EUR 676.2 million.
In monthly terms sales increased in the ICT sector (+16.2 percent), the construction sector (+2.1 percent) and in the sectors of transport and storage (+0.4 percent). On the other hand, selected market services witnessed a 1.6-percent drop from December 2010.
Figures on industrial output released this week have hinted at a continuous strong growth rate of sales in industry although industrial output slowed down in January to 17.1 percent from 19.7 percent in December 2010. Industrial manufacturing alone reported growth rate of 20.4 percent versus 19.4 percent in December. Sales in industry for the whole of 2010 went up by 19 percent y/y to EUR 67.36 billion.
SITA
