Total production of industrial enterprises in Estonia increased by 1.4% YoY in January, state agency Statistics Estonia reported. Inflation has curbed higher levels of growth, however, and the rate has slowed.
Production increased by 1.8% in manufacturing and by 3.9% in mining, the agency said, while energy production grew by just 0.2%.
Helle Bunder, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that, however: “The growth of industrial production has been hindered by the rapid increase in prices.”
“Production volumes fell in the manufacture of wooden products (by 4%) and in the manufacture of plastic products (by 5.3%),” Bunder added.
The manufacture of electronic products (+17.7%), electrical equipment (+16.2%), food products (+0.9%) and fabricated metal products (+1.1%) were the sectors with the most notable growth rates, Bunder added.
In energy production, compared with January 2021, the volume of electricity production (in MWh) rose by 22.9%, but the production of district heating fell by 11.3%.
The past, relatively cold and snowy winter saw record energy price levels and the installation of government measures intended to mitigate the worst effects of the inflation.
In January 2021, the value of production of manufacturing stood at EUR 819 million at current prices, whereas in January this year it already reached EUR 1,094 million, meaning a rise of 33.5% at current prices.
68.9% of the total production of manufacturing was exported, with the manufacture of computers and electronic products the outstanding sector.
According to unadjusted data, the export sales of manufacturing production increased by 26.3% and domestic sales by 17.7%, compared with January 2021.
On month, i.e. between December 2021 and January 2022, the seasonally adjusted total industrial production fell by 6.1% and the production of manufacturing by 5%. (ERR/Business World Magazine)
