The General Industrial Production Index of Spain, known as SUI, shows a 0.8 percent average drop during 2023. This marks the end of a two-year stretch of growth, a shift noted by the National Statistics Institute in a report issued on a recent Wednesday. The softening follows a period of solid gains and points to a year where the industrial sector faced a mix of normalization pressures after the pandemic and sector-specific headwinds that eased later in the year for some industries and intensified for others.
In detail, the annual decline of 0.8 percent contrasts with the gains seen in 2022 and 2021. The 2022 increase reached 2.4 percent, while 2021 rose by 7.1 percent as the economy recalibrated after strict health restrictions. That 2021 uptick was unusually strong, reflecting a rebound after lockdowns, as many manufacturing lines resumed operations and demand surged as restrictions eased. The 2023 performance thus represents a cooling from those extraordinary highs while still reflecting a recovering but uneven industrial landscape.
Looking further back, 2020 stood out as a year of contraction with industrial production sliding by 9.2 percent due to the Covid outbreak. Since 2013, no annual decline has been as steep as the one recorded in 2020, and that record stands as a reminder of the pandemic’s depth. The 2023 numbers show a different pattern: a modest annual retreat rather than a string of steep decreases, signaling a return to more typical business cycles even as the sector remains sensitive to economic shifts.
The regional picture in 2023 shows notable divergence. Seven autonomous communities posted positive growth in industrial production, while ten experienced negative rates. Canary Islands led the gains with about a 5.6 percent uptick, followed by Castile and Leon with around 3.2 percent and Madrid with roughly 2.9 percent. On the downside, Murcia recorded an approximate 8 percent drop, Cantabria about 5.9 percent, and Asturias around 4.2 percent, underscoring how local factors and sector mix can steer regional results differently within the same national framework.
Turning to December 2023, the annual pace of industrial production turned negative after a two-month stretch of gains, decreasing by around 4 percent compared with December 2022. This decline marked the largest annual drop for the year and signaled another turning point for the sector as year-end dynamics and inventory adjustments came into play, even as other months showed more resilience.
In the monthly series for November 2023, both seasonally and calendar-adjusted data show a retrenchment, with industrial production falling 0.3 percent after a 1.1 percent rise in October. This dip aligns with the broader pattern of uneven month-to-month momentum within the year, highlighting how seasonal factors and calendar effects can influence short-term industrial activity over the autumn and early winter period.