IOBE – Weakening of business expectations in the industry in September

The index of business expectations in the industry fell in September and stood at 106.9 points (from 114.6 points in August), however, significantly higher than the corresponding level last year (86.4 points).

According to the bulletin of developments in industry of the Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research (IOBE), after continuous improvements, this small deterioration is rather an expected “corrective” development.

Also, industrial production continued to grow by 0.7% in August compared to July. IOBE speaks of a significant increase in industrial exports of 11.4% in July (y-o-y) but also an increase in the trade deficit to 2.6 billion euros from 2 billion euros a year ago.

Also, the utilization of the potential of the industry marked a slight weakening in September 2021, after a 12-year high percentage of the previous month. Secured production fell to 4.1 months, with factory capacity declining to 77.8% in September

Finally, an increase in industrial production of 10.6% was recorded in August compared to a year earlier in Greece, and compared to a milder increase of 5.0% in the EU27. Improvement was recorded for almost all industries in August, namely: electricity generation (25.6%), processing (6.2%), water supply (1.7%). In sectors of high importance for the economy there was an increase in medicines (34.5%) and food (0.3%) while a decrease in production was recorded in basic metals (-10.6% against, however, an improvement of 24.4% a year ago).