March 31 (SeeNews) - Croatia's industrial output decreased by 2.1% year-on-year in February, falling short of the 4% drop predicted by analysts at Austria-based Erste banking group, Erste said on Tuesday.
"Following strong January contraction of 5.5% year-on-year, industrial production kept negative pattern, albeit showing less pronounced decline in February as headline figure contracted by 2.1% year-on-year," Erste said in an instant comment after Croatia's statistical office published industrial output data earlier in the day.
Erste analysts noted that practically all major categories performed negatively, with a slump in energy and intermediate goods contributing most to the drop in overall industrial output, while the only category working in the opposite direction was the sector of consumer goods.
"With YTD figures thus far painting gloomy picture amid average 3.8% y/y decline, we see industrial production maintaining volatile pattern during 2020 – uncertainties and headwinds related to EU growth prospects would continue to weigh on the external demand performance, with ongoing spread of Covid-19 virus in Europe further strongly weighing on the outlook, especially during next two quarters," Erste analysts opined.
Therefore, they said they expect industrial production prospects to be largely constrained by the factors mentioned above, pointing to double-digit negative production performance in 2020.
In 2019, Croatia's industrial output rose 0.5% compared to the prior year.