Data on industrial production in the EU show a much darker picture than the already bad GDP figures. In the two largest manufacturing economies, Germany and Italy, there was a real collapse of energy-intensive productions. Not so in France, where the government implemented a cap on energy prices.
Italy’s industrial production collapsed 7.2% in April, with energy intensive sectors such as wood and paper −17.2%, electricity, gas and steam supply −13.6%, chemical products −10.9%, mining −9.7%. Machines fell only −1.6%, whereas oil products increased 2.1% and transportation means 5.7%.
