August industrial production up five percent on year

According to information released by Statistics Estonia on Friday, the production of industrial enterprises increased five percent year over year in August, with production increasing in mining and quarrying but decreasing in the energy sector.
In August, manufacturing production was six percent higher than the same month last year. Production growth was broad-based — last month, production surpassed August 2016 volumes in over two-thirds of industry branches.
The growth in production was mostly due to an increase in the manufacture of wood products, food products, metal products and electrical equipment. Production increased considerably in the manufacture of building materials as well. Among the branches of industry with larger shares, production fell in the manufacture of electronic equipment and furniture.
Last month, two-thirds of the total production of manufacturing was sold to the external market. According to unadjusted data, the sales of manufacturing production for export increased three percent and sales to the domestic market seven percent compared to August 2016.
This August, the seasonally adjusted total industrial production, as well as production in manufacturing, remained on the same level as the previous month.
Compared to August 2016, the production of electricity decreased 15 percent, while the production of heat increased four percent.
Editor: Aili Vahtla