Eurostat figures’ continuing decline

European production in construction continued its downward trajectory in May 2013 with a year-on-year decline of 5.1%, and a fall compared to April 2013 too.

Seasonally-adjusted figures from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, show that Eurozone production in construction was down by 0.3% in May 2013 compared with April 2013, and down by 0.2% in all member states (the EU27), according to first estimates.

In April 2013, production rose by 1.0% in the Eurozone and 1.1% in the EU27.

Compared with May 2012, production decreased by 5.1% in both zones in May 2013. Among the member states with data available for May 2013, production in construction fell in nine, rose in four and remained stable in the UK.

The largest decreases were registered in Bulgaria, which was down 4.2%, Poland and Slovenia (both -2.8%) and Germany (-2.6%). The biggest increases were in Spain (+4.4%), Romania (+3.1%), Sweden (+1.7%) and the Netherlands (+1.1%).

Building construction decreased by 0.6% in the Eurozone and by 0.5% in the EU27, after rises of 0.5% for the Eurozone and 1.2% for the EU27 in April 2013.

Civil engineering rose by 0.1% in the Eurozone (+4.3% last month) and by 0.5% in the EU27 (+2.3%).

On an annual basis, member states with available data saw production in construction fall in 11 and rise in three for May 2013. The largest decreases were registered in Poland (-28.6%), the Czech Republic (-15.5%), Portugal (-12.9%) and Slovakia (-12.1%). Hungary saw the biggest increase with an increase of 11.1%, followed by Spain with 8.2% and Sweden 7.9%.

Building construction decreased on an annual basis by 5.2% in the Eurozone, after a fall of 6.4% in April 2013, and by 4.7% in the EU27, -5.0% in the previous month. Civil engineering fell by 5.8% in the Eurozone, -8.1% in April 2013, and was down by 6.8% in the EU27, -8.6% in the previous month.