Industrial production in the Czech Republic last year, marked by the coronavirus pandemic, fell by eight percent year on year. This is the highest decline since the crisis in 2009, when industry fell by 13.6 percent. Car production, for example, fell sharply last year. This follows from information published today by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO). At the end of the year, however, the industry grew; in December, production rose by half a percent year on year.
Last year was mainly affected by the second quarter. From April to June, industrial production in the Czech Republic decreased by 23.5 percent. The decline slowed markedly in the third quarter, and the industry already showed modest growth in the last quarter.
For the whole of last year, there were few industries that recorded year-on-year growth in production. “This is the pharmaceutical industry or the paper industry , which includes, in addition to the production of paper packaging, also the production of baby diapers, or other manufacturing industries including the production of toys and medical beds,” said Veronika Doležalová, head of the CZSO industry statistics department.
Car production fell by 12.3 percent last year, as did machine production. Production of metal structures and metal products fell by 9.2 percent. The paper industry improved by 4.1 percent, the pharmaceutical industry by 2.6 percent and wood processing also grew by more than two percent last year.
Revenues from industrial activity were 6.9 percent lower year-on-year last year. New orders fell by eight percent. Employment in industry fell by 3.4 percent and the average wage rose by 1.9 percent.
In the last three months of the year, the industry has grown. It was 1.3 percent in October, 0.4 percent in November and half a percent in December. “At the end of the year, the automotive industry was catching up with what it had missed in previous months, and it was thanks to car production and related industries that Czech industrial production showed modest growth at the end of the year ,” said Doležalová. In December, the production of cars, trailers and semi-trailers increased by almost 15 percent year on year.
Source: CTK & CSO
