Industrial output growth outpaced by consumption

The industrial output rose by 4.6% in the first 11 months of last year, compared with the same time in 2003. The gross industrial output index in November was 8.3% higher than in the corresponding month of 2003.

The growth pace of the industrial output is still much lower than that of people’s consumption (over 9% for the first nine months), revealed by the trade growth pace, being also below the GDP growth (plus 8.1% for nine months). This trend shows that the imports remain the underlying factor for economic growth. In fact, the trade deficit is relevant. A month before the end of 2004, the trade deficit had reached 6.2bn euros, 688 million euros higher than the entire last year’s figure and 1.5bn euros higher than in the first 11 months of 2003.

The data provided by the National Statistics Institute (INS) for the first 11 months of last year show that the processing industry output saw 5.6% growth compared with the same time in 2003.

The companies whose core business is industry related posted total turnover (non-core operations included) for January-October 2004 that was 9.9% higher in real terms than in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The retail companies (except vehicle and motorcycle retailers) in their turn posted higher turnovers.

The National Statistics Institute data show that the turnover of the sector was 12% higher in the first ten months of 2004 than in the same time of 2003. High increases were registered for both the sales of non-foods, 13.4%, and of foods, 10.3%.

As for October, the retail-related turnover compared with the corresponding month of 2003 was 8.3% higher. People in October bought more food, which led to a 9.9% increase in the turnover for companies in this segment. The turnover of the companies selling non-foods rose 7.2% compared with the same time in 2003.

The companies that sell cars, motorcycles or automotive fuels did not have a slow period in terms of sales, either. They saw turnover go up 11.4% compared with the first ten months of 2003.
miruna.lebedencu@zf.ro