Italy: leather and footwear production falls again in February
Figures released by statistics bureau ISTAT show leather and footwear production falling over 10% in Italy in the month of February. The drop comes after a similar decline in January (See leatherbiz.com March 14, "Italy: leather and footwear production falls 9.9% in January").
Overall industrial production in Italy fell 3.1% year-on-year in February and combined with January’s figures, the first two months of 2002 have seen a 3.2% fall.
Other sectors that experienced a downturn in February were textiles and clothing (down 8.1%), output of electrical and precision equipment (down 12.4%), printing and publishing (9.2%). On the positive side, however, production of oil refineries rose 5.9%, plastic and rubber products were up 2.9% and food, drinks and tobacco was and 2.6% higher.
