Galicia led industrial growth in March, advancing almost 16%

He General index of industrial production (IPI) grew by 15.8% in March in Galiciacompared to the same month in 2022, positioning itself as the Spanish community where it grew the most, according to data released this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (AND NOT).

In this way, the IPI rose by more than 10 percentage points above the national average, since in all of Spain this statistic increased by 5.3% during the third month of the year.

So far in 2023, industrial production in Galicia has grown by 8%ranked as the second fastest growing community, only behind Extremadura (+9.5%), and well above the national average (+2.1%).

What stimulated activity in Galician factories? According to INE, the production of capital goods, which increased by almost 53% compared to the same month in 2022. Energy production also increased by 19% compared to the same period last year. The only decline is in the production of durable consumer goods (-7.8%).

Industrial production in Spain

At the national level, the general index of industrial production (IPI) rose last March by 5.3% year-on-year, a rate 6 points higher than in February and the highest since August 2022.

With the improvement in March, industrial production is returning to positive year-on-year rates after a 0.7% decline in February.

The production of capital goods increased the most in the third month of this year, with a year-on-year growth of 12.6%. They are followed by consumer durables (7.1%); intermediate products (4%); non-durable consumer goods (3.4%) and energy (1%).

The engine returns the pulse

By branch of activity, production increased the most in the year-on-year rate production of electrical materials and equipment (28.6%) and production of motor vehicles (25.5%).

Among the declines, the most pronounced were graphic arts (-13%); wood and cork industry (-11.3%) and textile industry (-4.9%). Also Production and distribution of gas from pipelines sank by almost 16% compared to data from March 2022. The war in Ukraine and Russian supply cuts have forced countries to import liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, a year later the demand for hydrocarbons fell.

On a monthly basis (March vs. February), industrial production rose 1.5%, the largest monthly gain since April 2022, when it rose 2.5%.