BRATISLAVA, May 11, (WEBNOVINY) — The downward trend of the growth rate of sales in the Slovak industry continues. The Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic informed that industrial sales were 14.8 percent higher in March y/y but the growth dynamics slowed down 1.8 percentage points from February. In financial terms, industrial sales reached EUR 6.796 billion in the third month of this year. Industrial manufacturing alone reported a slowdown in the growth rate of sales by 4.2 percentage points to 14.6 percent. Industrial sales shrank 0.3 percent m/m.
The Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic ascribes the y/y increase to higher sales in the production of transport means (+35.2 percent), electricity, gas, steam and cold air supplies (+17.6 percent), production of machinery and equipment not classified elsewhere (+35.6 percent), production of rubber, plastic and other non-metallic products (+21.7 percent) and production of metals and metal constructions excluding machinery and equipment (+9.2 percent). The relatively deepest drop was reported in the production of computer, electronic and optical devices, with an 11.6-percent downtick.
The y/y growth rate of sales in the construction sector has increased for the second time this year having reported a 9.5-percent hike to EUR 589.5 million compared with March 2010. Sales in the construction sector rose 6.6 percent in monthly terms. The growth rate of sales in the transport and storage sector has been constantly increasing as of the beginning of the year and sales in March climbed to EUR 569.9 million on a 16.5-percent y/t increase. In monthly terms, they swelled 4.6 percent.
In March, the ICT sector grew for the third month in a row in yearly terms. The sales went up 4.9 percent to EUR 388.8 million, although they shrank 2.7 percent from February. Sales in selected market services surged 10.3 percent to EUR 769.3 million y/y although the month-on-month growth only amounted to 0.7 percent.
Industrial sales totaled EUR 18.825 billion in Q1 2011 on a year-on-year growth of 16.8 percent. Sales mostly increased in the production of transport means, namely by 43.2 percent. Lower y/y sales were only registered in production of computer, electronic and optical devices (- 7.1 percent) and supplies of water, sewage water treatment, and waste disposal services (-0.6 percent).
In quarterly terms, sales of construction companies swelled 4.5 percent to EUR 1.411 billion. The transport and storage sector posted sales of EUR 1.514 billion, up 12.4 percent y/y. The ICT sector registered sales at EUR 1.11 billion, up 4.3 percent. Sales in selected market services grew 9.5 percent to EUR 2.128 billion in the first quarter of the year.
Already the released figures on industrial output indicated the slowdown in the growth rate of sales in industry, when industrial output slowed down in March by 6.8 percent to 10.8 percent from February. Sales in industry for the whole of 2010 went up by 19.2 percent y/y to EUR 67.5 billion.
SITA
