In March, the decline in industrial production accelerated

Text Mark Taylor
Photo Fré Sonneveld / Unsplash

According to data released by Statistics Estonia, in March 2023, the total production of industrial enterprises decreased by 12.6 per cent compared with the same month in 2022. Output fell in all three sectors: by 18.5 per cent in electricity production, by 11.9 per cent in manufacturing, and by 14.9 per cent in mining.

“Production volume grew only in the manufacture of food products (1.0 per cent), shale oil (18.5 per cent), and motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (2.4 per cent). Among the larger industries, there was a decline in the manufacture of wood (23.3 per cent), electrical equipment (3.6 per cent), fabricated metal products (13.9 per cent) and electronic products (5.4 per cent). The steepest decline since the end of 2022 was recorded in the manufacture of paper and paper products where output fell by 47.5 per cent in March,” stated Helle Bunder, a leading analyst at Statistics Estonia.

Compared with March 2022, the sales of manufacturing production decreased by 5.3 per cent at current prices according to working-day adjusted data. Domestic sales fell by 12.2 per cent and export sales by 0.9 per cent. However, 69.3 per cent of the total production of manufacturing was sold to the export market. 

In energy production, compared with March 2022, the volume of electricity production (in megawatt-hours) decreased by 35.4 per cent and the production of heat by 3.7 per cent.

Compared with February 2023, the seasonally adjusted total industrial production fell by 0.9 per cent and the production of manufacturing by 2.0 per cent.

To learn more about this and similar topics
Energy Export Food Industrial Production Industry Manufacturing Mining Statistics Estonia