Industrial output up 6% in January year over year
Industrial enterprises produced 5.9 percent more output in January at constant prices than at the same time in 2025. Output increased in all three industrial sectors: mining, manufacturing and energy.
Output in mining rose by 10.7 percent, manufacturing by 3.1 percent and energy production by 21.7 percent.
Riin Kadarik, a leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, noted that the volume of manufacturing output increased for the third consecutive month.
"This is mainly due to growth in wood processing and the manufacture of metal products, which account for some of the largest shares compared with other manufacturing activities," Kadarik added.
In the energy sector, electricity production in January fell by 2.3 percent in volume terms (megawatt-hours), while heat production increased by 24 percent.
"The 21.7 percent growth in the energy sector was driven by larger volumes of electricity sold in January, both to businesses and institutions for final consumption and to household consumers," Kadarik said.
Among the larger industries, wood processing grew by 5.3 percent, the manufacture of metal products by 7.8 percent, the manufacture of computers and electronic equipment by 3.5 percent and the manufacture of electrical equipment by 7.5 percent.
Among key industrial branches, food production declined by 6.9 percent.
In January, 66.1 percent of total manufacturing output was sold to foreign markets.
According to seasonally adjusted data, total industrial production in January fell by 0.9 percent compared with December, while manufacturing output declined by 3.2 percent.
Economist: Volumes nowhere near past peaks
Luminor chief economist Lenno Uusküla said that after a slight increase in manufacturing volumes in November and December, January brought a decline.
"Compared with December, the drop was 3.2 percent. Compared with January a year earlier, there is a 3.1 percent increase, but that is against the backdrop of a weak January last year. Volumes are nowhere near their previous peak levels," Uusküla said.
Over the past year, the production of intermediate goods, durable goods and investment goods has declined.
Food production has fallen by 6.8 percent year-on-year, mainly due to the manufacture of other food products, which has dropped by nearly one-fifth.
"The outlook for manufacturing is rather weak," Uusküla added. "Price competitiveness has declined for years, investment has been limited, volumes are small and experience in foreign markets is limited. The future of manufacturing previously linked to imports from Russia is not positive. The recovery of Sweden's real estate sector will no longer bring the same recovery in volumes."
"European industrial policy has changed: important emerging and high-potential companies are being selected and brought in. Our passive policy in this field will not deliver results," Uusküla said.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski
