Sweden’s industrial production dropped less-than-expected in May after an increase in the previous month, while orders declined for the first time in three months, figures from Statistics Sweden showed Friday.
Industrial production declined a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent month-over-month in May, in contrast to the previous month’s 2.0 percent increase. Economists had expected output to fall 0.5 percent.
Manufacturing output declined 0.1 percent in May and mining and quarrying sector production decreased 4 percent. The electrical equipment industry showed the largest monthly decrease in May, while the largest increase came from the petroleum industry.
On an annual basis, industrial production advanced for the third straight month in May by 3.3 percent, defying economists’ expectations for a 2.5 percent rise. In April, production had risen a revised 1.4 percent.
Industrial orders declined a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent monthly in May, in contrast to April’s revised 2.0 percent increase. This ended two consecutive months of growth.
However, orders increased at a faster pace of 5.9 percent year-over-year in May, following a 4.5 percent rise in the preceding month, which was also revised up from a 4.4 percent growth.
Orders increased annually on both the domestic and export markets, by 7.2 and 4.9 percent, respectively.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com