Industry - February 2023

Industrial production increased in real terms by 2.0%, year-on-year (y-o-y), in February. In the month-on-month (m-o-m) comparison, it was by 0.4% higher. The value of new orders increased by 1.1%, y-o-y.

Industrial production in February 2023 was in real terms by 0.4% higher, m-o-m. In the year-on-year comparison, it increased by 2.0%. “After having slightly decreased in January, the industrial production was moderately growing in February. It was the most significantly contributed to by car production. Due to lower comparison basis of the previous year and despite shutdowns at some important producers, production of this industry increased by a quarter, year-on-year,” Radek Matějka, Director of the Agricultural and Forestry, Industrial, Construction, and Energy Statistics Department of the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), says. The following economic activities also contributed to the growth: manufacture of machinery and equipment and manufacture of electrical equipment, in which an important part of production is bound up with the car production. Industrial production increased by almost a fifth, year-on-year, partly due to a low comparison basis in manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations. During recent months, a recovery has been obvious in manufacture of leather and related products.

“Most of economic activities of industry recorded a year-on-year decrease. Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (especially of building materials and glass), and manufacture of basic metals decreased by almost a fifth in the year-on-year comparison,” Veronika Doležalová, Head of the Industrial Statistics Unit of the CZSO, adds.

The value of new orders at current prices in surveyed industrial CZ-NACE activities increased by 1.1%, y-o-y, in February 2023. Non-domestic new orders decreased by 2.7%, y-o-y; domestic new orders increased by 10.1%. This slight increase was the most contributed to by manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, manufacture of other transport equipment, and manufacture of fabricated metal products. On the other hand, the value of new orders in industry decreased again, year-on-year, in manufacture of basic metals and in chemical industry.

The average registered number of employees in industry decreased by 1.0%, y-o-y, in February 2023. Their average gross monthly nominal wage increased by 10.8%, y-o-y, in February 2023.

According to data released by Eurostat, industrial production in the EU27 increased by 1.0%, year-on-year, in January 2023. The biggest year-on-year increase was recorded by Ireland (by 19.5%) and Denmark (by 14.2%). On the other hand, Lithuanian industry decreased the most (by 12.0%); Czech industry decreased by 1.9%, y-o-y. Performance of German industry decreased by 1.5%.

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Notes:
February 2023 had the same number of working days as February 2022. In compliance with the CZSO Data Revision Policy, concurrently with processing of data for February 2023, data for January 2023 have been revised.
The year-on-year development of all indicators is published after having been adjusted for the influence of the number of working days. Month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter rates have also been seasonally adjusted. Contributions to an increase or to a decrease have been calculated from data that had been adjusted for working days.
Methodology: https://csu.gov.cz/pru_m

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 the 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 2023
Related outputs: time series in the Public database, the Industry chapter 
international comparison in EU countries: Eurostat
Next News Release will be published on: 9 May 2023