Slight decline in industrial production

There was a slight decline in industrial production from September to October after normal seasonal variations were taken into consideration. When weekly corrected statistics are compared, production in manufacturing and mining and quarrying was 2.3 per cent higher in October 1998 than in the corresponding month last year.

The wood and wood products industry has undergone a clear decline in the last three months due to a shortage of raw material and lower demand. This trend is linked to a decline in the construction of new homes and other buildings during 1998. If the period from August to October this year is compared with the period from May to July, there has been a decrease of 8.4 per cent. Manufacturing associated with pulp, paper and paper products has also undergone a marked decline. A number of participants in this sector have suffered shutdowns and bankruptcies. In the oil refining industry, one of the major plants had a shutdown during parts of October. The output of industries associated with the building and fitting up of oil platforms grew from September to October. Moreover, there has been a growth here of 16.4 per cent since the corresponding month last year, when weekly corrected statistics are compared. This is related to the record-high investments in field development in the North Sea during 1998.

Production in oil and gas extraction, manufacturing, mining and quarrying, and electricity supply (the total index) has decreased by 2.1 per cent from September to October, when normal seasonal variations are taken into consideration. If we compare weekly corrected statistics, there has been a slight increase in the production of oil and gas from September to October, even though production in October was 11.3 per cent lower than in the corresponding month last year. There have been operational problems in the Ekofisk field in October. Power production has increased by 13 per cent from September to October.

New Statistics
Index of production, October 1998.
The statistics are published monthly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. For more information, contact: Oyvind.Naustdal@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 47 35 or Tom.Langer.Andersen@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 47 29.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 50, 1998