Russian industry falls unexpectedly in Sept, down 0.8% in biggest drop since Jan - Rosstat
MOSCOW. Oct 17 (Interfax) - Russian industrial output unexpectedly fell 0.8% year-on-year in September after rising 0.7% in August, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.
Industry fell 0.3% in July but jumped 1.7% in June compared with growth of 0.7% in May. It rose 0.5% in April after falling 0.5% in March, growing 1% in February, due to the extra leap year day, and falling 2.7% in January.
Industry grew 0.3% year-on-year in January-August.
Economists told Interfax in a consensus forecast at the end of September that they expected industry to grow 0.4% for the month.
Industry fell in September due partly to calendar factors: September 2016 had as many working days as September 2015, but August 2016 had two working days more than August 2015.
Adjusted for seasonal and calendar factors, Russian industry fell an estimated 0.3% in September after growing 0.5% in August, falling 0.9% in July, growing 0.5% in June and falling 0.1% in May, falling 0.2% in April, falling 0.5% in March, rising 1.5% in February and rising 0.8% in January.
Output in the extractive sector rose 2.1% year-on-year in September after rising 1.8% in August (up 2.3% in 9M).
Manufacturing, which depends more than all other sectors on the calendar factor, fell 1.6% in September after growing by 0.1% in August (fell 0.9% in 9M).
Output in the utilities sector (electricity, gas and water) rose 1.4% in September and 1.3% in August (up 0.7% in 9M 2016).
Natural gas production rose 6.5% in September after growing 4.4% in August (down 0.8% in 9M), oil production rose 1.9% after falling 0.34% (up 2.4% in 9M, to 409 million tonnes) and coal production rose 0.2% in Sept after rising 13.8% in August (up 6.0% in 9M).
Car production fell 3.6% in September after soaring 41.6% and falling 19.8% in July (down 11.8% in 9M), although in recent years car manufacturers have been stopping some assembly lines in the summer months and output figures have therefore been volatile.
Pig iron production fell 9.9% in September, steel pipes - 12.8% and crude steel - 2.1%.
Production of gas turbines, which is volatile due to its cyclical nature, fell 57.9% in September.
Electricity generation rose 1.8% and heat rose 4.2% in September.
The Economic Development Ministry says in its new forecast that it thinks industrial output will rise 0.4% this year as a whole.
The analysts said in their consensus forecast that they, too, thought 0.4% growth was possible.
