Italy's industrial production surges 1.7 pct in January, after four-month decline

ROME, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Italian industrial production grew by 1.7 percent in January compared to the previous month, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Friday.

The figure marked the first positive change after four months of decline in a row.

Energy (6.4 percent) and consumer goods (2.4 percent) showed the strongest monthly rise, followed by intermediate goods (1.0 percent) and instrumental goods (0.3 percent), the agency stated.

However, the industrial output registered a 0.8 percent decrease compared to January 2018, and the average of the last three months (November-January) diminished by 1.8 percent against the previous quarter, according to ISTAT.

On the annual basis, ISTAT added the sectors registering a most positive trend were especially electricity, gas, and air conditioning supply (14.8 percent), computer, electronic, and optical products (4.4 percent), and the production of electrical equipment and non-electrical domestic appliances (2.2 percent).

Those showing the largest decrease were instead pharmaceutical preparations and products (-10.5 percent), basic metals and fabricated metal products except machinery (-8.8 percent), and mining and quarrying (-4.6 percent).

In a separate report also on Friday, the statistical agency said Italy's industrial producer price index remained unchanged in January against December.

More specifically, "the domestic producer price index remained unchanged, and the non-domestic market decreased by 0.3 percent," ISTAT stated.

The January price index grew by 3.4 percent on the annual basis, while the average of the last three months showed a 0.2 percent increase in the domestic market, and a 0.3 percent drop in non-domestic ones.