Industrial output in major economies

13 November 2017

India’s industrial output slowed to 3.8% in September from the month ago when factory output grew at 4.3%. Manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than three-fourths of the entire index, grew 3.4% in September, compared with 3.1% growth in August, and 0.9% in September 2016, government data showed. Capital goods output, which is a proxy to measure private sector investment activity, rose 7.4% in September compared with 5.4% in August. Consumer durables output contracted -4.8% in September, against 1.6% in the month before. In the same month last year, it was 14% a year ago. Mining production grew 7.9% in September from 3.1% in the same month last year. Electricity production increased 3.4% in September vs 8.3% in the month before. Consumer non-durables grew 10%, from 0.1% a year ago.

In the UK, the industrial output grew at its fastest pace so far this year in September, according to official figures. Production rose by 0.7% compared with the month before, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, boosted by machinery and equipment output. Manufacturing output – a subset of industrial output – also rose by 0.7% in September. However, the construction output data was much weaker than expected. As well as the sharp fall in September from August, output was only up 1.1% from a year earlier – the weakest annual rate since March last year.

Elsewhere in France, the industrial output rebounded slightly in September after an unexpected drop in August. Output in the sector as a whole increased 0.6 per cent in the month after a 0.2% decline a month earlier, according to data from the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. In manufacturing, output also picked up, increasing 0.4% in September following on from a 0.3% fall.