European construction falls

Latest figures from Eurostat show a -2,9% decline in construction output across the 27 European nations between January and February of this year.

Hardest hit was Romania, which saw a -13,8% decline in output, followed by Slovenia with a -9,2% fall and Spain with a -6% deterioration. Poland, Bulgaria, Sweden and France also recorded falls of -3,3%, -2,9%, -1,3% and -0,6% respectively.

The strongest January to February growth was recorded by Hungary with a +6% improvement in output, followed by Portugal with +1,4% growth and Germany with a +1% increase.

The figures from the statistical office of the EU show that when comparing this February's output with that of February 2009 the only nation to see growth for the month in construction output was the UK, with a +5% increase.

The biggest fallers included Bulgaria with a decline of -30%, followed by Slovenia (-28,7%), Romania (-26,9%), Poland (-24,3%) and the Czech Republic (-22,9%). Annual declines were also recorded in Spain with a -20,5% fall in output, Slovakia (-19,7%), Germany (-16,6%), Hungary (-10,1%) and France (-8%).