Year-on-year fall in output

Construction output fell year-on-year in October in the whole of Europe (EU27) and the Euro Area, driven by double-digit declines in Slovenia and Portugal.

Compared with October 2010, output in October 2011 decreased by 2.8% in the Euro Area and by 2% in the EU27, according to the latest figures from Eurostat.

The largest decreases were registered in Slovenia (25.3%), Portugal (11.3%) and Bulgaria (9.5%), and the largest increases were seen in Poland (9.4%), Sweden (7.3%) and Germany (1.6%).

In terms of sectors, building construction decreased by 2.5% year-on-year in the Euro Area and by 2.2% in the EU27, while civil engineering output fell by 3.6% in the Euro Area and by 0.6% in the EU27.

Eurostat's month-on-month comparison for October also showed falling output. Compared with September, 2011, production fell by 1.4% in the Euro Area and by 1.3% in the EU27 in October this year.

Slovenia again saw the largest decrease, registering a monthly fall of 14.1% in October, followed by Portugal, which saw output drop 9.7%. Poland and Romania both registered month-on-month falls of 1.5%.

The strongest monthly growth was registered in Sweden (1.1%), the UK (0.6%) and Germany (0.4%).

Building construction decreased by 1.2% in the Euro Area from September to October, and by 1.4% in the EU27, while civil engineering fell by 1.6% in the Euro Area and by 1.4% in the EU27.