Finnish industry output decreased at the beginning of the year
Industrial output decreased in January both from the previous month and from one year back. Also, new orders in manufacturing fell by 1.6% year-on-year.
Seasonally adjusted industrial output decreased by 0.8% in January from the month before.
According to Statistics Finland, industrial output adjusted for working days was 1.8% lower in January 2020 than in January 2019.
Examined by main industry, seasonally adjusted industrial output grew in January only in the food industry, by 1%, and in the chemical industry, by 0.1%. Industrial output fell in all other main industries from the month before.
The fall in output was strongest in the electrical and electronics industry, 11.3%. The fall was more moderate in other industries. Industrial output decreased by 4.5% in mining and quarrying, by 3.1% in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply and by 2.6% in the forest industry compared with the previous month.
New orders in manufacturing
According to Statistics Finland, the value of new orders in manufacturing was 1.6% lower in January 2020 than twelve months earlier.
Enterprises received more orders than twelve months ago in January in the chemical industry, where orders increased by 8.7% year-on-year.
In other manufacturing sub-industries orders declined. In the metal industry, orders declined by 0.7% and in the manufacture of paper and paper board products by 9.4% from one year ago.
Source: Statistics Finland.
When interpreting these statistics, it should be borne in mind that they typically show strong fluctuations by month.