A slight retreat from the previous month, a gain in year-on-year comparison. Industrial production in January presents a mixed picture, with manufacturing appearing weaker than expected, dropping by 0.7% compared to December, the fourth monthly drop in the last five months. Slowdown determined in particular by capital and intermediate goods, while only consumer goods are growing.
In the annual comparison (also helped by a particularly weak January 2022) there is instead a growth of 1.4%. The trend gain is larger (+3%) if referred to manufacturing in the strict sense, where pharmaceuticals and electronics drive the average with double-digit growth. Almost all sectors were positive on an annual basis with the exception of chemicals and metallurgy, energy-intensive sectors which also showed a slight recovery compared to the previous month.
The relief coming from the price of gas
The main novelty, looking at the range of negative variables in the context, actually comes from energy, with January presenting a first clear turnaround in international prices.
From an average of 117 euros per Mwora in December, gas has in fact passed to 67, with a downward trend that gradually consolidated in the second part of the month and then in the following weeks. Even if compared to the pre-crisis period the values are still triple, from the peaks in August (230 euros the average) this is a clear drop and the first figure lower than what was happening on the market on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine ( in January 2022 the average was 87 euros per MWh).