In February, industrial production decreased in real terms by 2.6%, year-on-year (y-o-y). In the month-on-month (m-o-m) comparison, it was by 2.0% lower. The value of new orders increased by 6.7%, y-o-y.
“In February, industrial production decreased both month-on-month and year-on-year. When compared to the last month of 2020 that was not affected by the pandemic, it was a decrease by 2.6%. The worse result is caused, among other things, by outages in supplier-customer relationships due to the ongoing pandemic,” Radek Matějka, Director of the Agricultural and Forestry, Industrial, Construction, and Energy Statistics Department, says.
Industrial production1 in February 2021 was in real terms by 2.0% lower, m-o-m. In the year-on-year comparison, it decreased by 2.6%. The following economic activities contributed the most to the y-o-y change of industrial production: manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (contribution −1.6 percentage point (p. p.), decrease by 8.0%), manufacture of electrical equipment (contribution −0.3 p. p., decrease by 4.2%), and manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (contribution −0.3 p. p., decrease by 8.8%). Industrial production increased in the following economic activities: manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations (contribution +0.3 p. p., growth by 24.6%), manufacture of fabricated metal products (contribution +0.2 p. p., growth by 2.2%), and electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (contribution +0.2 p. p., growth by 1.5%).
“The year-on-year comparison of February performance of the Czech industry ended up in the red, namely due to a decrease in significant industries of manufacturing such as production of passenger cars, manufacture of electrical equipment, and production of construction materials. On the contrary, industrial enterprises were successful in contracting of more new orders than a year before, even despite a higher comparison basis of the last year,” Veronika Doležalová, Head of Industrial Statistics Unit, says.
Sales from industrial activity at current prices1 decreased by 0.5%, y-o-y, in February 2021. Direct export sales of industrial enterprises increased at current prices by 1.2%. Domestic sales, which also include indirect export via non-industrial enterprises decreased at current prices by 2.9%.
The value of new orders1 in surveyed industrial CZ-NACE activities increased by 6.7%, y-o-y, in February 2021. Non-domestic new orders increased by 8.9%, while domestic new orders increased by 1.5%. The year-on-year increase of new orders in total was contributed to by the following CZ-NACE divisions: manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (contribution +3.6 p. p., increase by 8.9%), manufacture of fabricated metal products (contribution +1.23 p. p., growth by 10.9%), and manufacture of basic metals (contribution +1.16 p. p., growth by 21.9%). New orders decreased in manufacture of other transport equipment (contribution −1.0 p. p., decrease by 25.9%), manufacture of textiles (contribution −0.1 p. p., decrease by 6.6%), and manufacture of machinery and equipment (contribution −0.04 p. p., decrease by 0.3%).
The average registered number of employees2 in industry decreased by 3.3%, y-o-y, in February 2021. Their average gross monthly nominal wage increased by 0.9%, y-o-y, in February 2021.
According to data released by Eurostat, industrial production in the EU27 in January 2021 increased by 0.3%, y-o-y. Czech industrial production increased by 0.3%. The biggest year-on-year increase was reported by Ireland (by 27.5%), Lithuania, and Poland. On the contrary, production of Portuguese industry decreased by 6.5%, year-on-year, German industry decreased by 3.1%. According to a preliminary release calendar, Eurostat will release data for February 2021 on 14 April 2021.
Starting with data for January 2021, data on the development of sales from industrial enterprises and new industrial orders are presented in a new way. The same as for industrial production, adjusted data are preferred now. Year-on-year rates are published in a form adjusted for the number of working days. Moreover, month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter indices are seasonally adjusted.
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Notes:
1 The year-on-year development of all indicators is adjusted for working days unless otherwise stated. Month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter rates are also seasonally adjusted. Contributions to an increase or to a decrease are calculated from data that are adjusted for working days. February 2021 had the same number of working days as February 2020.
2 Indicators related to employment in industry apply to the whole population of enterprises the principal (prevailing) activity of which is industry. The indicator of the registered number of employees does not include persons working under various contracts for work (an agreement on work performance and an agreement on work activity), working owners of enterprises, and cooperating household members, who do not have contracts of employment. The piece of data on the registered number of employees in industry also excludes agency workers, who have contracts of employment within economic activities of services (CZ-NACE 78.2).
In accordance with the CZSO revision policy, concurrently with processing of data for February 2021, data for January 2021 have been revised.
Responsible head at the CZSO: Radek Matějka, Director of the Agricultural and Forestry, Industrial, Construction, and Energy Statistics Department, phone number: (+420) 736 168 543, e-mail: radek.matejka@csu.gov.cz
Contact person: Veronika Doležalová, Head of Industrial Statistics Unit, phone number (+420) 734 352 291, e-mail: veronika.dolezalova@csu.gov.cz
Method of data acquisition: direct survey of the CZSO (Prům 1–12)
End of data collection: 30 March 2021
Related outputs: time series https://csu.gov.cz/produkty/pru_ts
Next News Release will be published on: 7 May 2021
