According to the latest report from Eurostat, the industrial sector in the euro area gained momentum in May with production increasing by 1.3% from the previous month. This reading marked the third increase in three months, the best performance since November 2016.
Annual growth rose from 1.2 percent to 4.0 percent, marking the strongest growth since August 2011.
The increase was attributed to a 2.3 percent growth in capital goods, the driving force behind May’s impressive numbers. Durable consumer goods and non-durable consumer goods also increased at 1.8 and 1.2 percent while intermediates grew at a slight 0.3 percent.
Broken down by country, the big four (France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) all enjoyed an increase in output. France experienced the strongest industrial sector growth with a 1.9 percent increase. Spain experienced the second highest growth with an increase of 1.6 percent, followed by Germany (1.4 percent increase) and Italy (0.7 percent increase).