ZAGREB, January 29, 2019 - Industrial production in Croatia in December plummeted by 6.6% compared to December 2017, and this has been sharpest decline in the last two years, whereas industrial production shrank for the whole of 2018, for the first time in four years, according to data provided by the national statistical office (DZS) on Tuesday.

The seasonal adjusted data show that the December industrial output dropped by 2.9% compared to November 2018, whereas it plunged by 6.6% on the year, thus falling for six months in a row year-on-year.

The 6.6% reduction is the highest since a 14% decline in December 2016.

Trends in Croatia's industrial production have been unstable in the recent period, and out of the last 14 months, 12 of them saw a decline.

Thus, the industrial production in the whole of 2018 was down by 1% compared to 2017 when it increased by 1.9%

Throughout 2018, only February and June saw a rise in industrial production, while it declined in the other 10 months, RBA analysts say in their comment on the DZS data.

Broken down by types of goods, in December capital goods' production plunged by 17.6% on the year and the production of energy fell by 8.6% , while the production of durable consumer goods decreased by 7.7% and intermediate goods by 6.5%. Only the production of non-durable consumer goods went up by 1.9% in the last month of 2018.

The RBA analysts expect a moderate recovery rate of industrial production in 2019. They assess that from the point of view of demand, growth will be further generated by branches in connection with wholesale and retail trade, transport and storage, accommodation, hospitality industry, ICT and construction sectors.

More news on the Croatian industry, as well as its economy, can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, October 30, 2018 - Croatia's industrial production in September 2018 fell by 2.6% from September 2017, its sharpest year-on-year decline since January 2015, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) on Tuesday.

Industrial production in September slid by 1.5% from the previous month and by 2.6 from the same month last year. It was the biggest decline since January 2015, when industrial output plunged by 4.3%. This August, it decreased by 1.1% year on year.

With the rates of decline on both the monthly and the annual level, the volume of industrial production continued to fall for the third month in a row, Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in its analysis of the DZS report.

Production has been very unstable since the end of last year, recording year-on-year decreases in nine of the last 11 months. During that time, it rose only in February and June.

In September 2018, the production of consumer durables sank the most, by 10.4%, followed by the production of capital goods, which fell by 9.5%. The production of consumer non-durables decreased by 1.9% and that of energy by 0.7%. Only the production of intermediate goods saw a year-on-year increase, of 2.1%.

The manufacturing industry, which accounts for about 80% of the total output, continued to record negative rates for the third consecutive month, falling by 1.5% in September.

In the first nine months of this year, production was 0.3% lower than in the same period last year.

RBA estimates that the growth of industrial production for 2018 will be somewhat lower than last year, when it grew by 1.9%. This means that the growth will have been slowing for the second year running. "To achieve stronger growth rates, it is necessary to strengthen the competitiveness of the entire economy, so that the growth of domestic and foreign demand can for the most part be met from domestic sources," RBA said.

If you want to know more about Croatia’s economy and business sectors, follow our dedicated section.

ZAGREB, September 3, 2018 - In July 2018, industrial production in Croatia went down 0.9% on the year, annually decreasing for the seventh time in the past nine months, while monthly it fell 4.9%, the national statistical office said on Monday.

ZAGREB, July 31, 2018 - Croatia's industrial production increased by 3.1 percent in June 2018 compared with June 2017, its first increase after three months of decline, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) on Tuesday. Compared with May 2018, industrial production jumped by 4.5 percent.

ZAGREB, May 29, 2018 - Croatia's industrial production unexpectedly fell by 1.3% in April 2018 compared with April 2017, and by 0.9% in comparison with March 2018, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) on Tuesday.

ZAGREB, May 28, 2018 - Croatia's industrial turnover fell by 3.1% in March 2018 compared with the previous month and by 8.1% compared with March 2017, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday.

ZAGREB, May 2, 2018 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković commented on Tuesday on the fourth industrial production decline in the past five months, saying the causes of the decline would be analysed but also underlining as important that these indicators do not affect the revenue side of the state budget.

The unexpected fall of industrial production in March brings into doubt GDP growth forecasts for this year.

ZAGREB, April 30, 2018 - Croatia's industrial output shrank by 1.7% this March compared to March 2017, according to figures from the national statistical office (DZS) released on Monday.

ZAGREB, April 30, 2018 - Croatia's industrial production is set to rise by 2.8% in March year-on-year, according to estimates made by three economic analysts polled by Hina.