Industrial production down 9.6% in February

SANTIAGO.- According to the Federation of Chilean Industry (Sofofa), Industrial production registered a drop of 9.6% during February, while Physical Sales fell by 8.8% during the same period. Meanwhile, internal sales reported a significant decrease of 12.1%.

The result can be explained mainly by the fact that construction distribution industries registered a plunge of 23.5% when compared to the same month during 2008. The products most affected were iron and steel, which reported a 50.5% drop in production, as well as Non-Metallic Minerals including ceramics, cement and concrete, which decreased by 28.5%.

Meanwhile, the production of consumer goods fell by 5% as the result of a drop in the production of durable goods, which fell by 21.4%.

With these figures, industrial production has fallen 10.0% during the first two months of 2009, with industrial sales dropping by 8.7%. Internal sales have also slid by 10.9%.

In light of the results, Sofofa has predicted a decrease of 4.0% in industrial production for 2009.