Euro area production in construction sees monthly decline

Production in construction in the euro area (EA19) and EU28 was down on a monthly comparison basis due to declines in building construction activity. However increases were recorded on an annual comparison basis with rises observed in building construction and and the civil engineering segments.

Monthly declines
In March 2017, compared with February 2017, seasonally-adjusted production in the construction sector declined by 1.1 per cent in the euro area and by 0.8 per cent in the EU28, according to first estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The contraction of 1.1 per cent is attributed to building construction being down by 1.7 per cent while civil engineering rose by 1.1 per cent. In the EU28 the decrease of 0.8 per cent is due to activity in building construction dropping by 1.1 per cent while civil engineering rose by 0.7 per cent.

Among member states for which data are available, Eurostat reported that the largest MoM decreases were recorded in France (-5.1 per cent), Sweden (-4.5 per cent) and Portugal (-2 per cent). The highest increases were registered in Poland (9.7 per cent), Slovenia (6.5 per cent), Slovakia (3.6 per cent) and Hungary (3.4 per cent).

In February 2017 construction output grew by 5.5 per cent in the euro area and by 3.9 per cent in the EU28.

Annual increases
On an annual comparative basis, production in construction increased by 3.6 per cent in the euro area in March 2017 and by 3.7 per cent in the EU28. The euro area rise benefitted from an increase in both civil engineering and building construction, which were up by 6.8 and 2.7 per cent, respectively. In the EU28, the advance was due to building construction being up by 3.8 per cent and civil engineering by 3.3 per cent.

Among member states for which data are available, the highest increases in production in construction were recorded in Slovenia (41.5 per cent), followed by Hungary (33.2 per cent) and Poland (13 per cent). Decreases were observed in Spain (-5 per cent) and Romania (-1 per cent).