Eurozone industrial production slows down in September

Industrial production in the Eurozone slowed down more than expected in September, data released on Thursday showed.

According to figures released by the European Union’s statistics office, production in the area declined 0.3% in September compared with analysts’ forecast for a 0.1% decline and with an upwardly revised 0.4% drop in the previous month.

On a year-on-year basis, however, production rose 1.7%, beating expectations for a 1.3% reading but slightly below the upwardly revised 2.2% gain registered in the previous month.

“The rate of increase signalled by the brighter survey data remains only modest, and the task faced by policymakers is further highlighted by the extent to which the Eurozone’s industrial sector remains decimated by the global financial crisis and the region’s debt crisis,” said Markit’s chief economist Chris Williamson.

“Production across the euro area is still more than 10% smaller than its per-crisis peak, with only Germany having shown good progress in closing the gap, though even here output remains 2% below its prior peak.”