Index of industrial production, December 2000

The decreased manufacturing output in the 4.quarter of 2000 is related in the first place to a lower activity level among offshore-related sectors. Accordingly, the capital goods output fell by 0.5 per cent in the 4.quarter, when compared with the 3.quarter. The manufacturing output still remained weak, and was 3.3 per cent lower in December when comparing to the same month in the previous year.

Export producing sectors and energy goods output

According to weekly-adjusted data, the production output in manufacturing was 2.7 per cent lower in 2000 than in 1999. Some of the exporting industries, however, have seen a small increase in the production output in 2000.Using the weekly-adjusted figures, the energy goods production rose by 6.5 per cent in 2000. There has been a high level in oil and gas production. The gas production reached a very high level at the end of 2000 due to the introduction of several new fields. Otherwise, the electricity output increased about 16 per cent in 2000 compared with the previous year. Together, the upswing in energy goods output lifted the overall industrial production to about 3 per cent, despite the weak manufacturing output.