Industrial production suffers its biggest increase in a year after growing 4.1% in February

Industrial production rose 4.1% in February compared to the same month in 2023, one tenth above the level reached in January, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE). Momentum, the largest increase since March 2023was obtained thanks to the boost of non-durable consumer goods – which rose by 6.6% – and capital goods, which rose by 5.3%.

Also noteworthy is the increase in the production of intermediate goods – 3.9% – and durable consumer goods, with an increase of 2.8%. Energy was the only group that maintained its year-on-year production practically stable in February, at 0.1%. Diving into the data published by the INE, the good performance of the manufacturing of computer, electronic and optical products stands out, with a growth in February of 31.1%. Also the advance of 15.6% in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products and that of other transport materials, in this case of 13.2%.

On the opposite side, clothing manufacturing reduced its production by 24.5%, which placed it as the industry with the worst performance, followed by the leather and footwear industry and the manufacture of iron products, steel and ferroalloys, with a decrease of 2.6% and 2.5%, respectively.

Castilla y León leads

By autonomous communities, the annual rate of industrial production increased in February compared to the same month in 2023 in eleven autonomous communities and decreased in the other six. The largest increases occurred in Castilla y León (11.6%), Catalonia (9.4%), Aragón (7.8%) and Castilla-La Mancha (7.6%), while the most notable declines were recorded in Asturias, with a decrease of 8.3%; Balearic Islands, where it fell 4.3%, and Andalusia, 3.8% less.

In terms corrected for seasonal and calendar effects, the IPI had a variation of 1.5%, which is 1.2 points higher than that registered in January and has now been in positive territory for two consecutive months. The monthly evolution, also in corrected terms, shows a rebound in February of 0.7%, one tenth higher than that observed in January and the largest increase in this rate since March 2023, details the INE.