Provisional seasonally-adjusted data indicate that in the fourth quarter of 2012 industrial turnover increased by 2.2 per cent over the previous quarter, the National Statistics Office said today. Working day adjusted turnover expanded by 13.1 per cent when compared to the fourth quarter of 2011.

Seasonally adjusted industrial turnover increased by 2.2 per cent when compared to the third quarter of 2012. The growth in seasonally-adjusted industrial turnover was the result of an increase in all main industrial groupings.

The strongest growth rate of 3.7 per cent was reported in the intermediate goods sector, while a modest increase of 0.1 per cent was reported in capital goods. Quarterly turnover for intermediate goods has been increasing since the fourth quarter of 2011.

On the other hand, seasonally adjusted employment decreased by 1.0 per cent, from 73.6 to 72.9 points. Declining trends were observed in nearly all main industrial groupings with the exception of intermediate goods, which remained stable.

Additionally, hours worked adjusted for seasonality decreased by 1.4 per cent, while wages and salaries went down by 4.0 per cent, from 98.7 points in the third quarter of 2012 to 94.8 points in the subsequent period.

Industrial turnover adjusted for working days rose by 13.1 percentage points when compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. Intermediate goods and energy advanced by 19.8 and 10.8 per cent respectively. Furthermore, significant gains in turnover were registered in the consumer and capital goods sectors, by 8.0 and 5.3 per cent respectively.

Year-on-year data for employment decreased by 0.5 per cent, while hours worked adjusted for calendar movements declined by 0.4 per cent. In contrast, wages and salaries in the industrial sectors grew by 0.7 per cent.

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