Of the three main industrial sectors, production increased by 19.2 percent in energy production and by 6.4 percent in manufacturing but decreased by 15.7 percent in mining.

The coronavirus crisis, which began in 2020, disrupted the regular production cycle in manufacturing, which is why industrial production increased considerably in the second quarter of 2021 primarily due to the low reference base.

Manufacturing output stabilized in the second half of the year, when the rise in volumes was about 6 percent on average.

Helle Bunder, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said, last year, production volumes exceeded the level of 2020 in most of the 23 manufacturing activities.

"Among the activities with the largest shares, there was an increase in production in the manufacture of wood, in all activities related to the manufacture of machinery, in the manufacture of fabricated metal products, but also in the manufacture of furniture, building materials and plastic products," she added.

Shale oil production increased the most among the larger activities – by 22.3 percent. The volume of production remained on the same level in the manufacture of food products. Production decreased in the manufacture of computers and electronic products.

67.3 percent of the total production of manufacturing was sold to the external market. Compared to 2020, export sales rose by 16.1 percent and domestic sales by 16.8 percent.

In December 2021, total industrial production increased by 7.6 percent and manufacturing production by 7.1 percent compared to December 2020. In energy production, the volume of electricity production (in megawatt-hours) increased by 67.1 percent and the production of heat by 16.7 percent year on year.

In December, compared to November, the seasonally adjusted total industrial production rose by 2.1 percent and the production of manufacturing by 2.3 percent.

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