May 2012 compared with April 2012 Production in construction up by 0.1% in euro area Up by 1.6% in the EU27

STAT/12/109

18 July 2012

May 2012 compared with April 2012
Production in construction up by 0.1% in euro area
Up by 1.6% in the EU27

In the construction sector, seasonally adjusted production1 rose by 0.1% in the euro area2 (EA17) and by 1.6% in the EU272 in May 2012, compared with the previous month. In April 20123, production decreased by 3.7% and 6.9% respectively.

Compared with May 2011, production in May 2012 dropped by 8.4% in the euro area and by 6.9% in the EU27.

These estimates are released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Monthly comparison

Among the Member States for which data are available for May 2012, production in construction rose in eight, fell in six and remained stable in the Czech Republic. The highest increases were registered in the United Kingdom (+6.3%), Romania (+5.0%) and Portugal (+3.6%), and the largest decreases in Slovenia (-17.5%), Hungary
(-4.1%) and Spain (-3.3%).

Building construction dropped by 0.2% in the euro area, but increased by 1.8% in the EU27, after -3.6% and -7.7% respectively in April 2012. Civil engineering rose by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU27, after -3.9% and -4.8% respectively in the previous month.

Annual comparison

Among the Member States for which data are available for May 2012, production in construction fell in twelve and rose in three. The largest decreases were registered in Spain (-24.8%), Slovenia (-23.7%) and Portugal (-16.4%), and the increases in Romania (+21.1%), Poland (+6.5%) and Germany (+2.2%).

Building construction declined by 8.6% in the euro area and by 6.3% in the EU27, after -5.9% and -5.1% respectively in April 2012. Civil engineering decreased by 9.3% in the euro area and by 10.9% in the EU27, after
-9.3% and -10.9% respectively in the previous month.

• The production in construction index approximates the evolution of the volume of production within the sector, broken down into building construction and civil engineering. For the Member States which produce the construction index, but do not provide data for the reference period, Eurostat estimates missing values in order to calculate euro area and EU aggregates.

The weights of the Member States in the EU and euro area aggregates can be found at:

http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/dsis/ebt/library?l=/sts_weights_public/weights_for_2000&vm=detailed&sb=Title

• See file: EU27_EA17_NEWS_RELEASE_WEIGHTINGS_2005_nace2.

More detailed data can be found in the short-term statistics database on the Eurostat website:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/short_term_business_statistics/data/database

For total construction, and according to the Council Regulation 1165/98, Eurostat publishes national seasonally adjusted data if available. For Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden, Eurostat makes the adjustment.

As announced in the News Release 28/2012 of 17 February 2012, the seasonal adjustment method has been revised in order to improve the consistency between European and national aggregates. The seasonally adjusted euro area and EU series for production in construction are calculated by aggregating the seasonally adjusted national data.

Not all countries report monthly data. Previously the quarterly data of Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta were used to estimate the monthly index of production in construction. After the change of the seasonal adjustment method, the monthly index as presented in this News Release is calculated only on the basis of the data of countries reporting monthly data.

• The euro area (EA17) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

• Data of previous months have been revised compared to those issued in News Release 95/2012 of 19 June 2012. The monthly growth rates for April 2012 have been revised from -2.7% to -3.7% in the euro area and from -6.6% to -6.9% in the EU27. The annual growth rates have been revised from -5.0% to -6.3% in the euro area and from -5.1% to -5.8% in the EU27.

Eurostat news releases on the internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/euroindicators

Production in construction - quarterly variation / monthly variation

% change compared with the previous quarter / previous month*

* Seasonally adjusted

** These Member States are not required to supply monthly data under Council Regulation 1165/98

: Data not available

c Confidential

Production in construction – annual variation

% change compared with the same quarter / the same month of the previous year*

* Working day adjusted

** These Member States are not required to supply monthly data under Council Regulation 1165/98

: Data not available

c Confidential

Monthly production indices for total construction, seasonally adjusted

(base year 2005)

Quarterly production indices for total construction, seasonally adjusted

(base year 2005)

: Data not available c Confidential

Monthly production indices for total construction, working day adjusted

(base year 2005)

Quarterly production indices for total construction, working day adjusted

(base year 2005)

: Data not available c Confidential