The industrial production index was up 27.8% in the second quarter of 2021 (Q2) compared to the same period last year, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) announced in a note released.
The INS recalls that Q2 2021 was a period of general lockdown decreed to stem the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As for the quarterly evolution, the INS points to a slight increase in industrial production by 0.1% in Q2 of 2021, compared to Q1 of the current year.
“This is due to the rise in the mining sector production (+33.3%), agricultural and food industries (+2.4%), textile, clothing and leather (+1.4%) and mechanical and electrical industries (+0.2%).”
Conversely, production fell by 0.4% in the chemical industries sector and by 3.2% in the energy sector.
In terms of monthly variation, industrial production showed a slight gain of 0.3% in June 2021, compared to May 2021. This is mainly due to the increase reported in the manufacturing industries (+1.5% after -4.5%).
Most branches contributed to this increase. Indeed, the pace of industrial production resumed in the mechanical and electrical industries sector (+2.5% after -2.5%) and the textile, clothing and leather sector which bounced back (+21.1% after -17%).
Likewise, production continued to improve in the mining sector (+9.1% after 6.8%) and the food processing sector (+0.7% after -2.5%). In contrast, the energy sector dropped by 5.6% after -4.2% in May.
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