Industrial production statistics

Data extracted in July 2023.

Planned article update: 24 July 2024.

Highlights

The EU’s production of manufactured goods has been recovering and growing, following two successive decreases, including a fall of 7% in 2020. The EU’s industrial production went up 8% in 2021 compared with 2020 and has continued its upward trend with a 5% increase in 2022 compared with 2021.

In nominal terms, in 2022, the EU’s value of sold production jumped from €5 209 billion in 2021 to €6 179 billion in 2022, an increase of 19 %.

This article analyses recent data on industrial production in the European Union (EU), as well as in some EFTA and candidate countries, based on results of industrial production (PRODCOM) statistics. Cyprus, Malta and Luxembourg are exempt from collecting PRODCOM data and therefore no data is available. Data presented in this article are collected under the industrial production regulation and cover the activities under sections B and C (Mining and quarrying and Manufacturing) of the NACE Rev. 2 classification and since 2019 the activity 38.32 Recovery of sorted materials.

Full article

Overview

In 2022, the value of sold production in the European Union amounted to €6 179 billion, an increase of 19 % compared with €5 209 billion in 2021 (current prices).

Figure 1 presents the evolution of the EU's value of sold production from 2012 to 2022. After a stable period, EU production shows a constant annual increase from 2015 until 2018 when comparing to each previous year. The results of 2019 show the consolidation of the growth in production with a value of sold production in the European Union that amounted to €4 945 billion.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequent containment measures widely introduced by Member States had a significant impact on the EU’s industrial production in 2020. The value of sold production in the European Union in 2020 decreased by 7 % compared with 2019. The EU’s industrial production in 2021 recovered and it increased by 8 % compared with 2020. It continued with an increase of 5 % in 2022 compared with 2021.

The recent increase was recorded in almost all industrial activities with the highest peak in the manufacturing of fabricated metal products, followed by the manufacturing of paper and paper products, the manufacturing of basic metals, the manufacturing of chemicals and chemical products and the manufacturing of beverages.

The newly available production under sub-contracted operations within the economic territory of the European Union Member States amounts to 4% of the production value and 9% of the production volume.

Figure 1: Evolution of EU's value of sold industrial production, 2012 - 2022 (2015=100)
Source: Eurostat DS_056120

Industrial production by country

Figure 2 shows the share of the EU's value of sold production, by individual EU Member States in 2022. Six EU Member States generated 74 % of the EU’s value of sold production. Germany recorded the highest value of sold production, equivalent to 26 % of the EU total, followed by Italy (19 %), France (11 %), Spain (8 %), Poland (6 %) and the Netherlands (4 %). The other 22 EU Member States contributed with smaller shares (less than 4 %).

Figure 2: EU value of sold industrial production, by country, 2022 (% of total value of sold production)
Source: Eurostat DS_056120

Looking in detail at the three largest manufacturing sectors within one country, Italy stood out with the manufacturing of basic metals and fabricated metal products, which represented 36 % of the country's total value of sold production in 2022. Bulgaria, Greece and Slovenia followed with 22% each.

The manufacturing of food, beverages and tobacco activities generated 35% of the value of sold production in Greece. Croatia followed it with 28 %, Spain and Netherlands each with 27 % and Denmark with 24 % of the country's total value of sold production.

The highest share of the country's total value of sold production in the manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers and other transport equipment was reported by Slovakia with 40 %, followed by Czechia (27 %) and Hungary and Romania each with 26 %.

Germany is the substantial producer of all the three activities mentioned above (€228 billion, €188 billion and €293 billion respectively) in the EU.

Industrial production by sector

The analysis that follows refers to the division breakdown (first 2-digit level) of the Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE). In some cases, the results are presented as a group of divisions, i.e. Food, beverages and tobacco (Divisions 10, 11 and 12 of NACE Rev.2).

Figure 3 shows the share of the manufacturing activities in the EU's value of sold production for 2012 and 2022 respectively. The EU's value of sold production is concentrated in 14 groups of activities; six of these groups account for almost three-quarters of the total for both reference years. The sectors manufacture of basic metals and fabricated metal products, manufacture of food, beverages & tobacco products and manufacture of motor vehicles and other transport equipment accounted for 47 % of the value of the sold production in 2022.

The value of sold production in all other manufacturing activities increased between 14 % and 60 % from 2012 to 2022 (in current prices). Looking into the smaller contributing domains, the manufacture of pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations had the highest increase (60 %) in 2022 compared with the 2012 value of sold production.

Figure 3: Value of sold production by group of manufacturing activity, EU, 2012 and 2022 (% share of total sold production)
Source: Eurostat DS_056120

The five largest manufacturing activities

The analysis refers to the top five manufacturing activities presented at division breakdown (first 2-digit level) of the Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE). Among the five largest manufacturing activities belong food products; chemicals and chemical products; fabricated metal products; machinary and equipment and motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers.

Figure 4: Evolution of the value of sold production for top 5 manufacturing activities, EU 2012–2022 (2015=100)
Source: Eurostat DS_056120

Figure 4 shows the evolution of the value of sold production for the five largest manufacturing activities in the EU, over the period 2012 - 2022. Based on constant prices (base year 2015), the manufacturing of metal products registered the highest increase (by 69%) in 2022 compared with 2012. It is followed by the manufacturing of food products (by 11%), the manufacturing of machinery equipment (by 9%) and the manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (by 5%) while the manufacturing of chemicals and chemical products stayed at the same level.

In terms of nominal value of the sold production in 2022 compared to 2021, the manufacturing of metal products went up by € 254 billion, the manufacturing of food products by € 127 billion, the manufacturing of chemicals and chemical products by € 86 billion, the manufacturing of machinery and equipment by € 50 billion and the manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers by € 34 billion.

Results for some examples of products or group of products sold

The results are detailed at four-digit level of the Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE).

Production of motor vehicles accounted for 55 % of the EU's value of sold production of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers

Figure 5 analyses the share of the value of sold production for the manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (Division 29 of NACE Rev.2) in 2022.

Figure 5: Sold production of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers in EU, 2022
Source: Eurostat DS_056120

The overall value of sold production generated by the manufacturing of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers in 2022 was €639 billion; this value represents 10 % of the total EU's value of sold production. In 2022, the value of sold production for this manufacturing sector increased by 6% compared with 2021. The manufacturing of motor vehicles represented approximately €354 billion, which is more than one-half of the sold production value for this group. The manufacturing of other parts and accessories, bodies (coachwork), electrical and electronic equipment for motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers accounted for the rest of the sold production in this activity. (Figure 5)

On average, one kilogram of fresh bread produced in the EU was sold for € 1.65

Figure 6 presents the value of production sold for 1 kilogram of fresh bread, in the EU over the period 2012 - 2022 and in each country for 2022.

Figure 6: Value of sold production for one kilogram of fresh bread in EU, 2012-2022 (EUR per Kilogram)
Source: Eurostat DS_056120

The value of sold production of fresh bread, compared with the previous year, was constantly increasing in the period 2014-2017, in 2018 it slightly decreased by 1%. It was increasing again by 6% in 2019 however, the value of sold production of fresh bread remained steady in 2020. In the last two years (2021 and 2022), the value of sold production of this product significantly increased by 13% and by 6% consecutively.

The average value of production sold for one kilogram of fresh bread increased by 10 % between 2012 and 2022 and went down by 4 % compared to 2021. The price has been moving slightly up and down in the last decade from €1.50 per kg to maximum €1.71 in 2021.

Italy was the country where one kilogram of fresh bread produced was sold at the highest price, at over €3.3. In Finland, Austria and Germany the price was between €2.3 and 2.8. Rather low prices, of under €1 per kg, were observed in Bulgaria and Hungary. Hungary is the country with the lowest value of production sold, 81 cents/kg.

EU's production of pharmaceutical products slightly down in 2022 after increase in the last years

Figure 7 provides an overview of the value of total sold production of basic pharmaceutical products produced in the EU, during the period 2012-2022. Throughout the period 2012-2017, the total sold production value of pharmaceutical products fluctuated between €20 and 34 billion. For the last 5 years the EU’s pharmaceutical production has been increasing and reaching a peak €36,1 billion in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the EU’s pharmaceutical production dropped slightly to €34 billion.

For the last 10 years, the production of antibiotics continued at a steady pace with a total sold production value €2,5 billion in 2022. The pro-vitamins and vitamins hit the highest point recorded in 2018, nevertheless the annual sold value remains the same around €2 billion between 2019 and 2022. The antibiotics and vitamins represented 14 % of the total basic pharmaceutical production.

Figure 7: Sold production of basic pharmaceutical products in the EU, 2012-2022 (in bil EUR).png
Source: Eurostat DS_056120

A look into the EU's production of wind turbines

Figure 8 provides an overview of the number of wind turbines produced in the EU between 2012 and 2022. During this period, the yearly average production of wind turbines amounted to 10 000 pieces. In 2013, the production of wind generating sets hit the lowest point recorded. Despite this drop of the produced quantity from 2011 to 2013, the production of wind turbines was boosted again in 2014 and since then the production observed has been quite constant until 2019. In 2020, the sold quantity decreased to less than 6 800 pieces of wind turbines. In the period of 2021 and 2022, the sold quantity continued at a steady pace between 9 000 and 10 000 wind turbines.

The main wind generating sets producers are Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

Figure 8: Wind turbines produced in EU, 2012-2022 (thousand pieces)
Source: Eurostat DS_056120

The production of sport goods increased across EU

The EU production of sport goods has grown during the last five years. The value of the sold production of sport goods was at its peak with over € 4.4 billion in 2022. The manufacturing of these products increased mostly in 2021 and 2022 as latest trends globally show more interest in practicing sports.

The production of fishing rods continues at a steady pace with the value of sold production between € 82 million and € 95 million, the highest production of this sports equipment is noted in 2021, € 126 million. The manufacture of skis for winter went up from € 497 in 2018 million to € 560 million in 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 caused a slight decline in skis production, € 407 million. The production of tennis and badminton rackets dropped by half in 2021 and 2022 compared with the previous years. The equipment for fitness centres produced in the EU rose by 12% in 2022 compared to 2018. (Figure 9).

Figure 9 analyses the 2018 - 2022 production of sport goods (CPA 3230 of NACE Rev.2) in the EU.

Figure 9: Sport goods produced in EU, 2018 - 2022 (in bil EUR)
Source: Eurostat DS_056120

Source data for tables and graphs

Industrial production statistics tables and figures

Data sources

The Prodcom list is linked to the activity classification NACE and to the classification of products by activity (CPA): the first four digits of each Prodcom code refer to a NACE class, the fifth and sixth digits relate to a CPA sub-category, and the seventh and eighth digits are specific to the Prodcom list. Most headings correspond to one or more codes from the combined nomenclature (CN), a classification used for statistics on international trade in goods: some headings (mostly industrial services) do not correspond to a CN heading at all. The relationship with CN makes it possible to calculate apparent consumption by linking production statistics to international trade statistics.

The production surveyed covers only the production actually carried out on the territory of the reporting country. This means that the production of subsidiaries, which takes place outside an enterprise’s territory, is not included in the survey results for that country. As a general principle, when a production process takes as an input a material that does not match the description of the product, and produces as an output something that does, then production of the product should be recorded. If the processing of a product does not change the heading under which it is listed, it should not be recorded, since this would result in double-counting. This means that the link to turnover data is tenuous, since some activities do not result in new products and should not be recorded in Prodcom statistics.

Prodcom data are available for the EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia; Eurostat produces aggregates for the EU. According to the terms of the Prodcom Regulation, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta have derogations not to provide Prodcom data to Eurostat because of their size; as such there is no data for these three Member States in the database.

Data are available during the year following the reference year, with the first release of information usually taking place in July. As more complete and revised data become available, updates are released on a monthly basis.

Context

The development of Prodcom dates back to 1985 when Eurostat organised a series of meetings on production statistics, whose objective was to harmonise the various ways industrial production statistics were collected in the EU Member States. Although statistics were collected on products in most countries, there was a varied selection of classifications in use reflecting national situations and a range of different survey methods were applied.

The Prodcom Regulation is designed to enable these national statistics to be compared and, where possible, aggregated to give a picture of the developments of an industry or product in the European context. This aim became more urgent with the creation of the single market in 1992 and the statistical system had to adapt.

Before data collection could begin, it was necessary to draw up a common list of products to be covered. Drawing up the Prodcom list was a unique opportunity for Eurostat, the national statistical authorities and the European trade associations to work together to produce a classification that would be understood by businesses and would be appropriate for national and European statistics. Industrial production statistics collected within PRODCOM serves as one of the data sources used in several policy areas of the European Commission and national administrations. Other users such as professional/trade associations and their members use PRODCOM statistics for information on industry. The use of the data in climate change statistics is increasing, as well as in other environmental statistics such as the analysis of material flows or chemicals production and consumption statistics.