Poland Industrial Output, Producer Prices Fall In February

(RTTNews) - Poland's industrial production decreased for the second straight month in February, while producer prices continued their falling trend, separate reports from Statistics Poland revealed on Thursday.

Industrial production fell 2.0 percent year-over-year in February, following a 0.9 percent drop in January. Meanwhile, economists had expected a decline of 1.1 percent.

Among sectors, output produced in the mining and quarrying sector alone contracted by 12.9 percent annually in February, and that of the manufacturing sector dropped by 2.3 percent. On the other hand, production in the utility sector advanced by 8.1 percent.

On a monthly basis, industrial output declined 0.4 percent in February, in contrast to a 2.5 percent rebound in January.

In a separate report, the statistical office revealed that producer prices declined at a faster pace of 1.3 percent annually in February versus a 1.0 percent decline a month ago. The expected fall was 1.2 percent.

Prices for the mining, quarrying, and manufacturing sectors also fell by 1.1 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. Similarly, prices in the utility sector fell by 0.7 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, producer prices edged down 0.2 percent.

Separate data revealed that average gross wages and salaries in the enterprise sector grew 7.9 percent annually in February, versus an expected hike of 8.7 percent.

The average paid employment in the enterprise sector dropped 0.9 percent in February, as expected.