Russian industrial output rises 2.7% in Dec, falls 10.8% in year
MOSCOW. Jan 22 (Interfax) - Russian industrial output grew 2.7% year-on-year in December 2009 but fell 10.8% in the full year, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.
Analysts told Interfax in a consensus forecast at the end of December that they thought output would grow 2.4% that month. They accurately forecast a 10.8%-drop for 2009 as a whole. Industry grew 2.1% in 2008.
Industrial output grew just twice on a monthly basis in 2009 - by 1.5% in November and the 2.7%-growth in December. The last time it grew prior to that was in October 2008, up 0.6% year-on-year.
But the comparative base for December 2009 was very low - industry plummeted 10.3% year-on-year in December 2008.
Industry grew 5% in December compared with November 2009.
The extractive industry drove the December growth, up 4.9% year-on-year. Output by this sector fell by 1.2% in the full year.
Utilities sector output grew 4.5% year-on-year in December, but fell 4.8% in the year.
Manufacturing sector output grew 0.7% in December but plummeted 16% in the year.
Metals sector output, which shrank very severely in December 2008, soared year-on-year in December 2009: crude steel by 55.1%, steel pipes - 72.8% and ferrous metal roll - 46.5%. Iron ore production jumped 69.2%. In addition, mineral fertilizer output was up 30.1%, coke - 60.1% and synthetic rubber - 66.6% in December.
But the machine-building industry continued to slide, with car production down 45.3% year-on-year in December 2009 to 587,000 units. Automobile tyre production grew 4.4% year-on-year in December.
Primary oil refining grew 5.4%, gasoline output fell 2.7% and diesel output fell 1.9% year-on-year in December.
Oil and gas condensate production in 2009 as a whole rose 1.2% from 2008 to 494 million tonnes (up 3.1% in December). Gas production fell 12.1% in the year to 584 billion cubic meters, but rose 9.7% in December.
Iron ore production fell 8.1% in the year to 92 million tonnes but grew 69.2% in December. Coal production fell 9.2% in the year but grew 8.8% in December.
Electrical power output fell 4.6% in the year to 992 billion kilowatt-hour, but grew 4.6% in December; and heat output fell 1.4% in the year to 1.341 billion Gcal, but grew 7.2% in December.
The Russian Economic Development Ministry estimated that industrial output fell 11.4% in 2009. Analysts are expecting it to grow 3.9% in 2010 while the Econ Ministry thinks 2.8% growth is likely.