Industrial production declined 3.2% in the first four months of 2019 compared to the same period of 2018, according to Industrial Production Index April 2019 published Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
This decrease is due to the decline in production in the agri-food industry (-10.7%) following dropping olive oil production and energy products extraction (-9.1%).
Similarly, production fell in the petroleum refining (-51.4%), textile, clothing and leather (-2%) and mechanical and electrical industries (-1.6%).
On the other hand, industrial production increased in non-energy products extraction sectors (+ 11.9%), due to the rise in crude phosphate production (1,128 thousand tons during the first 4 months of 2019, compared to 859.3 thousand tons in the same period of 2018), the chemical industry (+ 14.3%) and manufacturing of other non-metallic mineral products (+ 2.7%).
Industrial production went down 3.4% in April 2019, following a decline in the energy product extraction (-3.7%) and non-energy product extraction sectors (-15.5%).
Production also fell in petroleum refining (-78.1%), rubber and plastics (-7.6%), chemical industry (-2.3%), textiles, clothing and leather (-1.9%) and the mechanical and electrical industry (-0.7%).
On the other hand, industrial production grew in the agri-food industry (+3.7%) and other non-metallic mineral products (+ 0.4%).
