The growth in industry slowed down in 2007

The production of electricity increased 25% in 2007 compared to the previous year, caused mainly by the growth of exports via Estlink’s submarine cable.

The rapid growth in manufacturing in the 1st quarter began to slow down since April and turned to downfall in December. Nevertheless the growth of production at the beginning of the year ensured the 5% increase in 2007 as total. The growth in manufacturing was mainly influenced by the increase in the production of food, electrical machinery, building materials and chemical products. The production of food increased 3% over the year, mainly due to the increase of the production of beverages, milk and meat products. The increase in the production of chemical products and building materials was influenced by the rapid development of construction market at the beginning of the year. In the second half-year the growth in the production of building materials slowed down considerably. The production in all branches of machinery and apparatus manufacturing grew during the year, mainly due to the increase in exports. The growth of production was the largest in the manufacture of electrical machinery and apparatus (27%).

Since the beginning of 2007, the wood industry was decreasing due to the lack of raw materials. The production of metal products, which had significantly grown during last years in the structure of industry, and the production of furniture showed a small decrease compared to 2006. The rise in the prices of raw materials was a problem for wood and metal branches. The manufacturing of textiles decreased during the whole year. The fall in textile production has been caused by the decline of competitiveness of products in domestic as well as external market.

In December 2007, the seasonally adjusted industrial production of Estonia fell 7% compared to November. In comparison with December 2006, the industrial production decreased 2%, in manufacturing 6%.

In December 2007 compared to December 2006, the production of electricity increased 38%, the production of heat increased 6%.

The trend of volume index of manufacturing production, January 1998 – December 2007
(2000 = 100)

Change in volume index of industrial production
(percentage)

^a In case of the seasonally adjusted volume index, the impact of the differing numbers of working days in a month and seasonally recurring factors has been eliminated. It is calculated only in comparison with the previous period.
^b In the case of the working-day adjusted volume index, the impact of the differing number of working days in a month has been eliminated. It is calculated only in comparison with the corresponding period of the previous year.