Eurozone industrial output falls in January
(BRUSSELS) - Eurozone industrial output continued weaker in January, official data showed on Wednesday, but the underlying trend appears consistent with a very modest economic recovery in the single-currency bloc.
Industrial output in the 18-nation eurozone fell 0.2 percent in January after a sharper drop of 0.4 percent in December when it had 17 members, the Eurostat statistics agency said.
However, in the full 28-country European Union, industrial output was up 0.1 percent, returning to positive territory after a drop of 0.4 percent in December, Eurostat said.
Compared with January 2013, eurozone industrial output was up 2.1 percent while the EU gained 2.4 percent.
Germany, Europe's biggest economy, saw a rise of 0.4 percent in January, more than reversing a fall of 0.1 percent in December while struggling France was down 0.3 percent, still better than the previous month's drop of 0.5 percent.
Non-euro Britain was up 0.1 percent after a gain of 0.5 percent in December.
The eurozone escaped a record 18-month recession in the second quarter with overall economic growth of 0.3 percent but this slowed to a marginal 0.1 percent in the third before picking up again to 0.3 percent in the last three months of the year.
Jonathan Loynes, an economist with Capital Economics, said the figures amounted to a "disappointing soft start" to the year and were "another reminder that the eurozone's economic recovery remains fragile."
"The 0.2 contraction in production was weaker than we had expected," Loynes said.
However, Howard Archer, from IHS Global Insight, said that while the figures marked a disappointing start to 2014 for manufacturing, "the underlying data was more reassuring" and pointed to an expansion in the sector.
"With latest survey evidence from the purchasing managers reasonable, the overall impression is that the Eurozone manufacturing sector is currently on a modest recovery path," Archer said.