According to the First Release published by Croatian statistical office yesterday, industrial turnover increased by 3.2% YoY in April, while strong improvement was reported on the foreign markets where industrial turnover increased 9.9% YoY.

Industrial turnover increased by 3.2% YoY with the growth slowing-down from 9.3% YoY in March, when it was the strongest since October 2018. These growth rates are in work-adjusted terms according to data released by the Croatian statistical office on Thursday. In seasonally-adjusted terms, total industrial turnover increased by 0.1% MoM in April, returning to positive territory after March when growth rate has amounted to -1.1% MoM. In the first two months of the year it was also in the positive territory when growth has amounted to 2.4% MoM in January and 1.3% MoM in February.

In terms of markets, strong improvement was reported on the foreign markets where industrial turnover increased 9.9% YoY. It is the third consecutive month for non-domestic industrial turnover which growth increased further as in March growth rate has amounted to 8.6% YoY. This suggests a continuation of the upward trend for the non-domestic industrial production in the next months. On the other hand, the domestic industrial turnover marked increase of only 0.2% YoY, which marks a strong decrease compared to March when domestic industrial turnover growth rate has amounted to 7.7% YoY.

Breakdown by branches in terms of use shows that the increase of the total industry line was on the back of non-durable consumer goods, intermediate and capital goods. Industrial turnover of non-durable consumer goods increased by 14.9% YoY in the month speeding up markedly from 5.3% YoY in March. Intermediate goods increased by 11.8% YoY in the month, and capital goods by 6.8% YoY, while the fall in industrial turnover with energy and consumer durables was reported. The upward trend in industrial turnover with capital goods continued in April as it expanded by 6.8% YoY in the month, speeding from 5.6% YoY growth reported in March. The industrial turnover with non-durable consumer goods also remained on an upward trend in April as the tourist season is approaching. These developments in our view are supportive of the expectation for industrial production continued rebound in the next months after it recovered reporting 4.6% YoY growth in January and has stayed since in positive territory for four consecutive months in a row.