Eurozone industrial production drops to three-year low

Industrial output in the eurozone slumped more than expected to a three-year low in October, according to figures out Wednesday from Eurostat.

Output fell by 0.7% during the month, with the calendar and seasonally adjusted production index falling to 102.7, a level not seen since late-2020.

That follows a revised 1% fall in September and came in below the consensus estimate for a 0.3% decline.

Over the month, production of capital goods fell by 1.4%, intermediate goods and non-durable consumer goods both by 0.6%, while production of durable consumer goods grew by 0.2% and energy by 1.1%.

The largest monthly declines were seen in Ireland (-7.0%), Malta (-2.5%) and the Netherlands (-2.1%), while the highest increases were seen in Greece (+6.0%) and Portugal (+3.8%).

Compared with October 2022, eurozone industrial production was 6.6% lower, marginally better than the 6.8% contraction in September but significantly worse than the 4.6% expected by analysts.