Total industrial enterprises’ production fell by 5% in 2020, compared with the previous year, state agency Statistics Estonia reported.
Production decreased in all three main industrial sectors: by 19% in energy production, by 13% in mining and by 4% in manufacturing.
Statistics Estonia analyst Helle Bunder said that manufacturing production also fell in 2020, by 4%, largely the result of the pandemic.
Bunder said: “The impact of the coronavirus on manufacturing was the most noticeable in April and May 2020, when the volume of production decreased by 15% and 17%, respectively.”
Statistics Estonia says that industry is both the largest economic sector and an important driver of economic growth.
The index of industrial production as noted covers the economic indicators of three industrial activities: mining, energy production and manufacturing.
With the latter, only three sub-sectors saw growth on 2019, namely the manufacture of wood and the manufacture of chemical products from among larger-scale activities, and in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products among smaller sub-sectors.
Production volumes remained unchanged in the manufacture of computers and electronic products and in the manufacture of electrical equipment.
From the major areas, the manufacture of building materials, furniture and food products all saw a fall.
Export sales fell by 3% and domestic sales by 5% in 2020. 67% of the total production of manufacturing was sold to the external market last year.
In the last month of 2020, there was some growth, however, as total industrial production increased by 1% YoY and manufacturing production also rose by 1%.
In energy production, the volume of electricity production (in megawatt-hours) increased by 3% and the production of heat by 1%, compared with December 2019.
Between November and December 2020, seasonally adjusted total industrial production increased by 2% and the production of manufacturing rose by 3%. (ERR/Business World Magazine)
