Compared to April, Romania registered a 7.5 percent rise in industrial production, the highest in the EU. Second place goes to Slovakia, with 4.1 percent, followed by Portugal, with 3.8 percent, and Lithuania, with 3 percent. This period was an unfavorable one for industrial production in Slovenia (-1.8 percent), Denmark (-1.7 percent), and Belgium (-0.3 percent). Bulgarian industrial production also dropped in May by 0.2 percent.
In the EU, total industrial production increased by 0.7 percent, after a 0.4 percent drop in April. Production in the 13 Euro area states was up by 0.9 percent, slightly higher than that accumulated by all 27 states in the EU. In May 2007 industrial production rose by 2.7 percent in the 27 European states year-on-year, and by 2.5 percent in the Euro area. Romania also has good annual figures, even if it does not hold first place. The May 2006 - May 2007 leader in industrial production growth was Slovakia, with an increase of 17.4 percent, followed by Poland (8.1 percent), Bulgaria (6.9 percent), and Romania (6.8 percent). For the same period, Denmark, Finland and France registered reductions in industrial production of 4.9 percent, 2 percent, and 0.2 percent, respectively.
