Swedish industrial production grows in March, upturn likely to continue

Production in Sweden continues to indicate a good trend. The synchronised upturn in the global economy is feeding through to Sweden’s exporters. Manufacturing production is increasing and, possibly order intakes is rising even more. The upturn is widespread, while transport industry continues to growth the strongest.

Manufacturing production rose 0.3 percent on a sequential basis, while it was up 3.8 percent on a year-on-year basis. Order intake was up 2.3 percent sequentially and 13.4 percent year-on-year.

Production in the vital private service sector is indicating a solid upward trend too. The March figures were slightly weaker than was expected; however, they are strong. Service production rose 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2017.

Statistics Sweden also published new data for production parallel with monthly figures. The new data is more comprehensive.

Overall, other hard data such as household consumption and exports have been weaker than the production readings. Therefore, the picture is slightly mixed. Much suggest that there is a strong start to the year, stated Nordea Bank.