Eurozone industrial production rebounds slightly in February

Industrial output in the eurozone rebounded slightly in February after a significant downturn the month before, according to figures released on Monday by Eurostat.

Seasonally adjusted industrial production was up 0.8% over the month, following a 3.0% drop in January, which was revised up from the initial reading of -3.2%. The reading was in line with economists' projections.

According to Rory Fennessy, senior eurozone economist at Oxford Economics, February's rebound may signal the "start of the industrial turnaround".

"A turning inventory cycle, higher consumer goods demand and lower wholesale energy prices should support a gradual, sustained recovery in industrial production growth throughout 2024. Looser monetary policy should provide a more pronounced positive impact in 2025, particularly for interest-rate sensitive durable goods production," he said.

Increased output of intermediate goods (+0.5%), capital goods (+1.2%) and durable consumer goods (+1.4%) helped to outweigh falls in energy (-3.0%) and non-durable consumer goods (-0.9%), Eurostat said.

In terms of member state performances, the strongest rates of growth were recorded in Ireland (+3.8%), Hungary (+3.5%) and Slovenia (+3.3%), while the biggest drops were seen in Croatia (-4.6%), Lithuania (-3.0%) and Belgium (-2.7%).

Compared with last February, industrial production across the eurozone was down 6.4%, after a 6.6% year-on-year drop in January.