Istat, alarm on industrial production: already 7.2%

TURIN. High prices limit the spending power of households and forcefully hit businesses: Italian industry is in difficulty and production collapses for the fourth consecutive month. This is the photograph that arrived today from Istat: the index drops by 1.9%, with “decreases extended to all the main sectors”. The picture is also negative on a quarterly basis and on an annual basis, net of calendar effects, there is a “significant fall” of 7.2%, the largest for three years. At the sectoral level, the decrease for energy (-12.6% per year) and intermediate goods (-11%) is very large; consumer goods see a reduction of 7.3% while the decrease for capital goods is limited (-0.2%).

The picture, underlines Istat, is also negative on a quarterly basis. “Even in trend terms, net of calendar effects – notes the statistical institute – a marked fall is observed”. The only sectors of economic activity with a trend growth are the manufacture of means of transport (+5.7%), the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products (+2.1%) and the production of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations (+0.6%). The largest declines are recorded in the wood, paper and printing industries (-17.2%), in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air (-13.6%) and in the manufacture of chemical products and in metallurgy and manufacturing of metal products (-10.9% for both sectors).

The picture that emerged today alarms consumer associations. The Codacons speaks of a “vertical collapse”. «In April, production recorded the fourth consecutive drop, a figure that is no longer just an alarming signal, but tangible proof of the difficulties affecting the industrial sector – explains the president Carlo Rienzi – Consumer goods are particularly worrying a descent without brakes, with a contraction of -7.3% on an annual basis with peaks of -8.3% for durable goods, a figure clearly affected by the price emergency that has been gripping our country for months” .

«It is precisely the still skyrocketing inflation weighing like a ton on Italian industry, with the products most purchased by households recording marked double-digit price growth, and direct effects on Italian spending and consumption – continues Rienzi – For this reason we reiterate the need to intervene on retail prices, because only by calming price lists will it be possible to protect the purchasing power of families, support consumption and help industry, commerce and the economy».

«A Caporetto, both for our businesses and for the country. Other than a record recovery. Not only does the negative trend of industrial production continue for the fourth consecutive month, in seasonally adjusted economic data, but the fall is a chasm» says Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumer Union.

«The collapse of consumer goods, -7.3% on April 2022, demonstrates that there is a lack of income policy and that it is urgent to restore spending capacity to families, safeguarding their purchasing power, otherwise Italians will not consume businesses they produce» concludes Dona.