October’s Euro area construction output stable

The latest figures from Eurostat show construction output in October was stable month-on-month in the Euro area, while marginal +0.5% growth was reported in the EU member countries (EU 27).

The Euro area consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland, while the EU27 consists of all 27 countries that make up the European Union.

The highest increases in October's construction output were registered in Slovakia and Sweden, where production grew +2%, according to Eurostat.

And the Czech Republic and Germany also showed growth of +1,3% each, but this was offset by decreases in Portugal (-6,6%) and Romania and Slovenia (both -1,3%).

But while October's figures demonstrate relative stability month-on-month, the year-on-year comparison reveals a pronounced drop.

Compared with October 2009, output in October 2010 dropped -6,8% in the euro area and -1,9% in the EU27, according to Eurostat.

Spain registered the largest decrease, with production dropping -34% year-on-year, while Slovenia followed with a -17,6% fall in output.

In contrast, Sweden saw construction output grow +18,5% on an annual basis and Poland registered a +10,4% increase, while the UK's construction output grew +9,5%.

According to Eurostat, October's overall output in the building construction sector decreased -6,6% in the Euro area and -1,3% in the EU27 on an annual basis, while overall civil engineering output also dropped -8,7% and -4,9% respectively.

Eurostat is the statistical office of the EU.