BRUSSELS — Eurozone factory output continued its steep fall in autumn this year, underscoring the feeble domestic demand that risks prolonging the bloc’s recession.
Industrial production in the 17 countries sharing the euro fell 1.4% in October after falling sharply in September, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said on Wednesday. That was much worse than the modest growth expected by economists in a Reuters poll.
Bad weather and weak demand from the crisis-hit eurozone left Britain’s manufacturing sector contracting for a second successive month in March.
Despite a small pick-up in the monthly survey of industry from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and Markit, the index of activity remained below the recession cut-off point of 50.