BUSINESS

Industrial output falls, new orders in manufacturing grow

Compared to one year ago, output decreased most in the chemical industry and in the forest industry.

Finland's industrial production decreased in March both from the previous month and from one year back.

According to Statistics Finland's fresh data, industrial output adjusted for working days fell by 2.3% from the same month of the previous year. Seasonally adjusted industrial production was also 2.1% lower compared to the month before.

Compared to one year ago, output grew most in the electronic and electrical industry, by 6.8% and in the metal industry, by 2.6%. Output decreased most in the chemical industry, by 16.4%, and in the forest industry, by 5.3% compared to March 2020.

Compared with the previous month, seasonally adjusted industrial output grew in March in mining and quarrying, by 6.3%, in the electronic and electrical industry, by 1.9%, and in the metal industry, by 0.6%.

Output decreased on a monthly basis by 0.9% in the forest industry, by 1.5% in the chemical industry, and by 2.6% in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply.

New orders in manufacturing

According to Statistics Finland, the value of new orders in manufacturing was 23.3% higher in March 2021 than twelve months earlier. During January to March, orders grew by 11.3% from the year before.

Enterprises received more orders in March than twelve months ago in the metal industry and in the manufacture of paper and paper board products.

In the metal industry, orders increased by 30% and in the paper industry by 20.1% from the year before.

In the chemical industry, orders decreased by 0.5% from one year back.