EU chemicals and industrial production fell in October as demand was hit by the continuing eurozone debt crisis, data from statistics agency Eurostat showed on Wednesday. EU chemicals production was down by 0.8% in October compared with September, with a 1.2% decline in the 17-member eurozone.
Year on year, chemicals production in October, adjusted for the number of working days in each period, was 2.1% lower in the 27-member EU and down by 3.2% in the eurozone.
Industrial production in the EU was down by 0.2% month on month in October, and fell by 0.1% in the eurozone, Eurostat said. In September, production had decreased by 2.0% and 1.5% month on month, respectively.
In October 2011 compared with October 2010, industrial production increased by 1.3% in both zones.
Production of energy in October fell by 0.6% in the EU and by 0.9% in the eurozone, compared with September. The production of intermediate goods and durable consumer goods also dropped month on month.