According to Statistics Estonia, industrial production adjusted for working days decreased annual 6.7 pct in May on shrinking domestic consumption. This is the deepest decline in last nine years.

Compared to the April, the decline was 4.8 pct on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The value index of industrial export sales in total manufacturing increased 7 pct year on year, however the value index of industrial domestic sales decreased 11 pct. Although the share of exports in the total manufacturing has been growing continuously and exceeds 60 pct, the growth of exports could not compensate the fall of domestic sales, Statistics Estonia said.

The decrease in manufacturing was mainly influenced by the decrease in the production of food, wood and building materials. The decrease in manufacturing of food is continually affected by price increase and the decrease of consumption resulting from it. In May the producer prices of food rose over 18 pct compared to May of the previous year, in manufacturing of milk products the increase was 30 pct.

Nevertheless the producer prices of manufacturing of food products remained on the same level compared to April. The production decreased in all food industry branches except the production of meat products. Compared to May of the previous year, the production of building materials fell 30 pct in connection with a slowdown in construction activities. The downward trend continued in the manufacturing of wood, the production of furniture also decreased. The growth in May was only in the production of metal products and chemicals mainly due to the increase in exports.