Czech industrial production dropped in real terms by 2.1% y/y and by 2.9% month-on-month in December, the Czech Statistics Office reported on February 7. In 2021, industrial output grew by 6.4% year-on-year in 2021, down by more than 7% compared to the pre-pandemic level.

“In 2021, industrial output increased by 6.4% after having decreased by over 7% before. Compared to the previous year, the production volume increased in an overall majority of economic activities of industry in a virtually even manner. However, due to difficulties in production of motor vehicles, the pre-Covid level has not been attained,” said Radek Matejka, Director of the Agricultural and Forestry, Industrial, Construction, and Energy Statistics Department. 

The highest annual growth in December was seen in manufacture of other transport equipment (up by 15.1%), followed by manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (by 11.8%) and in electricity and gas (up by 4.8%).

“Industry ended up in a decrease in 2021 – both in December and the whole last quarter. A key contribution to that result came from car production and related fields, in which enterprises continued to struggle with issues in supply chains and increasing prices of materials and energies. A higher comparison basis also played its role,” Veronika Dolezalova, Head of Industrial Statistics Unit, noted.

In addition to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the automotive industry in Czechia is still struggling with a chip shortage. It grew by 3.4% y/y last year. In 2021, the production of other transport equipment improved by 22%, machinery production went up by 9.4% and electrical equipment by 11.2%.

The value of new orders grew by 5.3% y/y in December, driven mainly by manufacture of chemicals and chemical products (an increase of 62.6%), manufacture of electrical equipment (up 10.9%) and manufacture of fabricated metal products (up 9.6%).