MILAN (Reuters) – Italian industrial output rose more strongly than expected in June as factories built on the exceptional surge seen in May when production resumed after coronavirus lockdown measures were eased, data on Thursday showed.
Statistics agency ISTAT reported an 8.2% rise in industrial production in June from the month before, compared with a median forecast of a 5.1% rise in a Reuters survey of 19 analysts.
The rise followed a revised 41.6% jump in May, as the coronavirus lockdown was first lifted, and a drop of 20.5% in April, when most factories were shut down.
On a workday adjusted year-on-year basis, output was still down 13.7% in June, following a revised 20.5% fall in May and a 43.4% drop in April.
There were single digit rises in consumer goods, investment goods, intermediate goods and energy products.
Overall economic output in the eurozone’s third-largest economy contracted sharply during the lockdown with gross domestic product down 12.4% in the second quarter, ISTAT reported last week. However the fall was less severe than many economists had predicted.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie; editing by Sara Rossi)
