LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), August 10 (SeeNews) – Slovenia's industrial production fell by 12.1% on the year in June, exceeding the decline of 7.7% expected by analysts at Austria's Erste banking group, Erste said on Monday.
Even though the annual decline moderated in June, from the 16.9% drop in May, the yearly headline figure recorded another double-digit decline, Erste said in an instant comment, following the release of industrial output data by Slovenia's statistical office earlier in the day.
"June's print wraps up 2Q20 average industry performance at -17% y/y, thus the strongest decline since 3Q09 (-18.9% y/y) and the great financial crisis of the time," the Erste analysts said.
The detailed structure reveals pronounced contraction across all sectors on annual level, except for consumer goods industries, with the strongest decline of 17.6% year-on-year recorded in intermediate goods, they added.
In monthly terms, however, Slovenia's industrial output rose by 4.3% in June, gaining ground for a second month in a row following a 9.0% increase in May, thanks to higher manufacturing output, while the production of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply remained flat compared to May, and production of the mining and quarrying industry slightly declined, the statistical office said.
In the first six months of 2020, Slovenia's industrial production dropped 10.1% on the year, marking the sharpest first-half decline since 2009 when industrial output plunged 21.2%, the official figures showed.
"Looking ahead, we continue to see some mild improvement in following months, as the downturn further moderates but with economic activity still impacted by the virus presence we continue to expect overall negative industrial production performance during this year," Erste noted.