Euro zone industrial production fell by less than expected in September, driven down mostly by a steep drop in the output of durable goods, such as cars or fridges, the European Union statistics office said today.
Eurostat said industrial production in the 19-member single currency bloc in September decreased by 0.8% during the month, although was 1.2% higher year-on-year.
A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a steeper monthly fall of 1%, and a more moderate 1% increase from a year earlier.
The monthly drop in September follows an upwardly revised surge in industrial production in August of 1.8%. Eurostat also revised up its earlier estimates for the year-on-year output change in August to 2.2%.
Those compared with the originally reported figures of 1.6% and 1.8% respectively.
Euro zone output continued a seven-month pattern in which increases in one month are followed by declines the following month.
The monthly fall of production in September was mostly due to a 5.6% drop in the output of durable consumer goods, which more than erased the 4.8% rise recorded in August.
In a sign of lower appetite for investment, production of capital goods, such as industrial machinery, went down by 2.2% on the month, after a steep increase of 4.2 percent in August.
Output decreased also for energy (-0.2%) and intermediate goods (-0.7%), while it increased by 0.3% for non-durable consumer goods, such as clothes.
