EU Manufacturing Declines in 2023 After Two Years of Growth

Industrial production in the European Union recorded a 1.2% decline in 2023 compared to 2022. This was reported by Eurostat, which indicates that this reduction comes after two years of constant growth (+8.5% in 2021 compared to 2020 and +0.4% in 2022 compared to 2021). In nominal terms, the value of products sold in the EU increased from €5895 billion in 2022 to €5992 billion in 2023, an increase of 1.6%.

Contributing to this result is the decline in chemical products (-15%, from €542 billion to €461 billion), non-ferrous metals and metal products (-8%, from €888 billion to €816 billion), as well as rubber, plastics, and other products of processing non-metallic minerals (-6%, from €495 billion to €467 billion).

By contrast, the highest growth is in the automotive sector (+20% in production value from €776 billion in 2022 to €934 billion in 2023), followed by machinery and equipment (+8%, from €556 billion to €600 billion), and food, beverages, and tobacco (+5%, from €1006 billion to €1056 billion).

Analyzing the last decade, after a downturn between 2013 and 2014, EU production increased until 2019, when it recorded a slight decline, and then experienced a real collapse in 2020 due to the effects of restrictions related to the covid pandemic. Then a positive sign again in 2021 and 2022, which, as mentioned, will end with a downturn in 2023.