Analysts: Slovak Industry Already Feels Deceleration from Germany

Bratislava, February 11 (TASR) - Slovak industry is already feeling the deceleration from Germany, but the new carmaker is keeping it above water, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia Lubomir Korsnak analyst said in his commentary on Slovakia's industrial production in December on Monday. "The weaker numbers from Slovak industry at the end of the year in the context of weaker growth in several European countries, but especially in Germany, were not surprising in principle. However, unlike most other European economies, Slovak industry could still rely on its key sector - the automotive industry, which thanks to its new production capacities, safely defended it against red numbers, also in year-on-year comparisons. However, the other industrial sectors, which were more or less riding on a negative wave, were less successful," he said. According to Korsnak, the year-on-year growth in industry in December was considerably unbalanced and concentrated almost exclusively in the automotive industry. Although, some year-on-year growth was posted in some five other sectors of the total number of 15 basic branches of Slovak industry (food, wood, refinery, pharmaceuticals, and rubber, plastics and building material production), taking into account their weight, however, their contribution was usually negligible and did not exceed 0.4 percentage points. According to Slovenska sporitelna bank analyst Katarina Muchova, the main driving force in December 2018 was the automotive production that grew by 26.4 percent year-on-year. On the contrary, the most significant braking factor was metal processing, with a year-on-year drop of 10.5 percent. "Overall, industrial production last year increased by 4.5 percent, with the biggest contributor being car production (4.9 percentage points), while some sectors of industry slowed down the growth (in particular electricity, gas and steam supplies)," added Muchova. The Slovak Statistics Office reported earlier on Monday that industrial production posted a year-on-year increase of 3.1 percent in December 2018. Seasonally adjusted industrial output in December 2018 dropped by 0.9 percent on a month-on-month basis. am/mcs