Material bottlenecks, a sluggish global economy and rising energy prices caused industrial production in the euro zone to contract unexpectedly sharply in July. The companies produced 2.3 percent less than in the previous month, according to the statistics office Eurostat. Economists polled by Reuters had only expected a decline of 1.0 percent. However, the growth for June has now been revised upwards to 1.1 from the previous 0.7 percent. Manufacturers of capital goods such as machines and vehicles in particular put on the brakes in July: they produced 4.2 percent less. Material bottlenecks are causing problems for the industry, for example in the case of semiconductors. In addition, many investments are being postponed due to the looming recession as a result of the energy crisis. The development was very different in individual member states. Ireland reported a 18.9 percent slump in industrial production, while Estonia (-7.4 percent) and Austria (-3.2 percent) also contracted sharply. In Germany, on the other hand, the minus was not so strong at 0.7 percent.
Euro zone – production shrinks sharply – economy
