Statistics Estonia revises previously published data for second time in a week
State agency Statistics Estonia has announced it has retrospectively revised industrial production data going back to early 2024.
This is the second time in the space of a week that the agency has had to re-publish amended data after average wage statistics announced last week were revised.
The industrial production data recorded goes back to the start of 2024 until May this year, while the amendments were the result of discrepancies between the annual reports submitted and the data held by Statistics Estonia.
As the revision concerns a major volume of turnover, the amendment exerts a significant impact on the statistics published, given the size of Estonia's economy, the agency said.
The most significant change was seen in the data for May and April of 2025, when the volume of industrial production was 2.2 percent and 2.6 percent higher, respectively, according to the revised data, than originally published.
For other months, the difference is in the 0.1 percent–1.6 percent range.
Retrospective data revision is a usual practice in the production of official statistics, the agency said, as is enterprises repeatedly revising data already submitted.
A week ago, on Wednesday, August 27, Statistics Estonia released incorrect data stating that average (mean) wages in Estonia had risen by 13.8 percent on year to the second quarter of 2025, while the median wage had risen by 8.8 percent over the same period, the agency said at the time.
This figure was high enough for experts to call it into question, with the Bank of Estonia estimating the on-year salary growth figure to the second quarter at less than half the figure, at 6 percent.
Statistics Estonia started re-checking the data shortly after the figure was published on the Wednesday morning, and pledged to announce revised figures by the end of the work week. Delays pushed the publication of the revised figures back to the start of this week, when Statistics Estonia announced the on-year mean wage rise at 5.9 percent, to €2,126 per month gross.
Major faults in the automated data transmission process, which had gone undetected during analysis, were behind this discrepancy, Statistics Estonia said, while the agency's director general, Urmet Lee, apologized for the oversight.
Statistics Estonia: Industrial production grew by 0.7 percent in July
Statistics Estonia also released its data for industrial output on year to July 2025.
The total production of industrial enterprises rose by 0.7 percent at constant prices on year to July 2025, Statistics Estonia reported.
Output increased in one of the three industrial sectors, manufacturing, which saw a 3.5 percent rise in output to July 2025.
However, output fell by 29.1 percent in energy production and by 8.7 percent in mining, over the same period.
As for the energy sector, the volume of electricity production (in megawatt-hours) fell by 19.9 percent, while district heating output rose by 7.2 percent on year to July.
Helle Bunder, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that the fall in electricity production was the result of domestic production being replaced by imports as a major submarine cable linking Estonia and Finland came back online, after being ruptured by a Russian shadow fleet vessel's anchor last Christmas.
"Electricity imports increased significantly in July as a result of the restoration of the Estlink 2 connection at the end of June this year," Bunder said.
In July, industrial production increased in half of manufacturing sectors. Growth was led by the metal and electronics industries. Output rose in fabricated metal products (1.9 percent), computers and electronics (7.6 percent), and electrical equipment (4.5 percent). However, production declined in food manufacturing (7.2 percent) and wood products (6.2 percent).
In July 2025, 64.9 percent of manufacturing output was sold abroad.
Compared to July 2024, manufacturing sales grew 3.1 percent in current prices. Domestic sales rose by 1.4 percent, while exports increased by 4.1 percent.
In July compared with June, the seasonally adjusted total industrial production fell by 5.4 percent and the production of manufacturing by 5.8 percent.
The volume index of industrial production measures changes in production volume at constant prices, while the value index tracks changes in the sales value of industrial production at current prices, both compared to a base period.
Statistics Estonia carried out the above survey on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.
More detailed information is here, here and here.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
