European construction output grew in 2014

Average construction production increased by 2% for the year 2014 in the Eurozone, and by 3% in the EU28, according to first estimate figures from Eurostat, the EU statistical organisation.

However, its figures comparing December 2014 against December 2013 showed a decline of 3.5% in the Eurozone, with the EU28 down by a total of 0.5%.

The results for the Eurozone indicating a year-on-year decline in December 2014 were said by Eurostat to be a result of building construction falling by 4.7%, while civil engineering increased by 1.4%.

The decrease of 0.5% in the EU28 was attributed to construction falling by 1.6%, while civil engineering showed 3.8% growth.

For the EU countries with available data, the largest decreases in production for December 2014 against December 2013 figures were Slovakia (9.8%), the Czech Republic (7.8%), France (7.5%), Italy (5.2%) and Germany (4.7%), and the highest increases were recorded in Romania (15.0%), Sweden (9.4%), Poland (4.8%), the UK (4.7%) and Slovenia (4.6%).

Eurostat’s month-on-month figures for December also showed production was down by 0.8% against the previous month’s results in the Eurozone, and fell by 0.5% in the EU28 countries.

The production decrease of 0.8% seen in December 2014 was said to be down to a 1% decline in construction during the month, though civil engineering was up by 1.7%.

In the EU28, the decrease of 0.5% was said to be due to building construction falling by 0.9%, while civil engineering grew by 2.6%.

The largest decreases in production in construction were seen in Hungary (6.5%), the Czech Republic (3.3%) and Germany (2.9%), and the highest increases were in Romania (7.2%), Italy (2.3%) and Poland (1.0%)