15 October,1999
Inquiries: Mr Rami Peltola +358 9 1734 3615, Mr Kari
Rautio +358 9 1734 2479
Director in charge: Mr Ilkka Hyppönen
Industrial output up by 2.1 per cent in August
According to Statistics Finland, industrial output as calculated per working day grew by 2.1 per cent in the year to August. In July, the corresponding figure stood at 4 per cent. This modest growth is partly explained by the fact that summer holidays were taken at different times than last year. This was visible in the electrical industry, where output was nearly 10 per cent higher in August than a year earlier, while the growth had been almost 19 per cent in July. Due to the favourable weather, the strong growth of output in mining and quarrying continued further. The manufacture of foodstuffs and beverages increased by 3.3 per cent.
Capacity utilisation rate in manufacturing was 84 per cent in August, which is just short of 5 percentage points lower than the year before. In the pulp and paper industry, capacity utilisation rate was 94 per cent, in the metal industry 82 per cent and in the chemical industry 76 per cent.
In the January to August period, industrial output was up by 4.9 per cent compared to last year's corresponding period. Output in the metal industry increased by 12.2 per cent, thanks to the electrical industry, where output rose by good 35 per cent. Output in the chemical industry went up by 0.4 per cent. In the wood and paper industry output fell by 0.4 per cent and in other manufacturing by good one per cent compared to the January to August period last year.
In August, Finnish industrial output grew by nearly 3 per cent (seasonally adjusted). According to the OECD's seasonally adjusted series, output in the United States grew by 2.5 per cent and in Japan by 5.3 per cent from the previous year. In the UK output remained unchanged from the year before. In contrast, industrial output was 0.4 per cent lower in Germany than in August 1998.
Source: Volume Index of Industrial Output 1999, August. Statistics Finland