Industrial Producers Grind Out 6% Growth in January
January's industrial output figures showed a stable improvement over last year's results, up 6 percent compared with the same month of 2012, Statistics Estonia announced today.
The year-on-year increase was generally in line with the 7 percent annual growth seen in both November and December, and likewise was pushed mainly by the recent boost in electronics manufacturing.
Manufacturing for the month was up 4 percent compared with last January. Among the branches of industry making up the largest shares of the total output, the biggest gainers were food products, up 7.8 percent, electrical equipment, up 9.7 percent, and chemical products, up 8 percent.
As much as 73 percent of the nation's industrial production went to export markets. Export sales of manufactured products grew by 14 percent compared with the same month of last year while domestic sales were up 6 percent.
Electricity production was up 23 percent in the year-on-year comparison, mainly because of increased exports and higher domestic consumption compared with January 2012. Heat production increased by 7 percent.