SALON

Monday, Jan 14, 2013 11:15 AM UTC

Eurozone industrial output down for 3rd month

By

Topics: From the Wires,

LONDON (AP) — Industrial output across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro fell in November for the third straight month, official figures showed Monday, in a further sign that the region will likely remain stuck in recession for the fourth quarter of 2012.

The 0.3 percent monthly decline reported by Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, was worse than expected. The consensus in the markets was that output would increase a modest 0.1 percent during the month.

Even though the rate of decline had eased following the 2.3 percent and 1 percent drops reported in September and October, respectively, the figures are likely to cement market expectations that the recession in the eurozone has deepened. Year-on-year, industrial production in the eurozone was down by 3.7 percent.

“November’s eurozone industrial production data provided further strong signs that the recession in the region as a whole intensified in the final quarter of last year,” said Ben May, European economist at Capital Economics.

The prevailing view is that the eurozone economy shrank further in the fourth quarter of 2012, with most economists predicting a bigger decline than the 0.1 percent drop recorded for the third quarter. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

Industrial output is particularly important in the eurozone, not least in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, where output rose by a monthly rate of 0.1 percent.

Though the increase in Germany was a turnaround from big falls in the previous two months, it’s clear that the country’s high-value exporters, such as its major car manufacturers, are struggling in a tough European marketplace. Many countries, such as Greece, Italy and Spain, are in recession as their governments enact tough austerity measures, such as cuts to spending, to get their public finances back into shape.

The recent weakness in German industrial production has also raised concerns that Germany will suffer at least one quarter of negative economic output.

The difficult European conditions were evident in sales figures earlier from Volkswagen AG. The car giant reported a 6.5 percent drop in sales in western Europe, excluding Germany, to 1.85 million vehicles. German sales fared moderately better, rising 1.9 percent to 1.18 million vehicles.

The hope for Europe’s manufacturers going into 2013 is that the recent improvement in financial markets, not least in the dramatic falls seen in the borrowing rates of some of the euro’s more embattled members, will continue and help reduce uncertainty.

“If that happens, businesses may become more prepared to place manufacturing orders that had been delayed or cancelled,” said Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global Insight. “It may also foster a pick-up in business investment.”

____

David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

More By Pan Pylas.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations