Slovak industry slowed down in March, its production dropped by 7.3% year-on-year

Despite the fact that in March 2022, more industries were in positive numbers than in negative, the overall result is unfavorable. This is due to more significant drops in core industries such as in energy, manufacture of transport equipment or manufacture of oil including manufacture of coke.

Industrial production in March 2022 dropped by 7.3% year-on-year. The sector's March result thus deepened the slight decline in February and confirmed concerns about a more significant decline.

Out of a total of 15 monitored industries (special industrial groupings²⁾), the year-on-year decline in production in the third month of 2022 was currently recorded by 7 industries, including several core structures of Slovak industry. Despite the fact that the majority, up to 8 industries were still growing, the overall result is marked by a more significant decline.

The current result was most significantly affected by a decrease in manufacture of electricity, gas and steam supply⁴⁾ by 29.7% (contribution -3.96 percentage points/p.p to the overall result of the industry³⁾) and at the same time a decrease in manufacture of transport equipment by 13.9% (contribution - 3.70 p.p). A more significant decrease of 25.6% was also recorded in manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products, which brought the industry to the third place of the most significant impact during March 2022 with a contribution of -0.56 p.p., to the overall result. The year-on-year decline in the output of the entire industry was also due to a decrease in output in mining and quarrying of almost a quarter and a slight decline in output in manufacture of rubber and plastic. Growth in the manufacture of machinery and equipment by 3.9% also had a positive effect, which represented a contribution to the industrial result of +0.38 p.p., and modest growths in other smaller sectors of Slovak industry.

In terms of structure, according to the main industrial groupings, production related to energy as well as the production of capital goods or production for intermediate consumption decreased year-on-year. On the contrary, the production of durable and non-durable consumer goods increased.

Month-on-month (compared to February 2022), after seasonal adjustments, industrial production decreased by 5.3%.

In summary, for the entire first quarter of 2022, industrial production dropped by 1.8% year-on-year. The most significant impact on the dynamics of development was the decrease in manufacture of electricity, gas and steam supply⁴⁾) by 15.1% (contribution -2.20 p.p). In second place was a 7.2 % decrease in manufacture of transport equipment (contribution to the quarterly result -1.86 p.p). During the whole quarter, mining and quarrying as well as manufacture of coke, including the processing of petroleum products, were also decreasing. Of the prosperous sectors of industry, the most significant impact had higher production of rubber and plastics 4) by 6.9% with a contribution to the result of +0.64 p.p. Similarly, industry maintained higher 17.5% growth in manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (contribution +0.54 p.p).