Romania's industrial output continues on the downward trend, falls 12% y/y in February

However, the industrial output braked its annual fall after hitting the steepest drop in December 2008. Thus, production in industry reduced 3 percent in October 2008 year-on-year, 11.5 percent in November, 18 percent in December and 12.1 percent in January. September 2008 was the last month to see an advance in the annual growth rate of the industrial output, which rose 3.8 percent. 

The processing industry plunged by 15.4 percent in February and the electricity and heat sector slipped 2.8 percent on the same month of 2008. However, the extractive industry went slightly up by 0.4 percent. 

All categories of goods saw decreases in February, with long-term goods reporting the largest fall of 20.5 percent, as intermediary goods lost 20 percent, capital goods shrank by 14.2 percent and current goods eased 7 percent. The energy sector went down 5.3 percent on February 2008. 

The industry output reduced 0.6 percent in February on the previous month, following a 2.3 percent drop in the extractive industry and a 0.3 percent in the electricity and heat sector. However, production in the processing industry rose by 1.5 percent on January. 

The steepest fall were reported for the current goods industry, which decreased 2.3 percent on January. The capital goods rallied 7.2 percent month-on-month in February and the intermediary goods and energy industry posted hikes of 5.1 percent and 2.5 percent respectively. 

In the first two months of the year, the industrial output was 11.7 percent smaller on the similar period of the previous year, after the processing industry sunk 16.2 percent and the energy sector slipped 2.8 percent. The extractive industry increased 2 percent. 

The intermediary and long-term goods plummeted 19.3 percent in January and February and capital goods dipped 18.4 percent. Current goods and the energy sector saw more moderate drops of 5.9 percent and 5.8 percent respectively.