Together with the country’s car industry, Spain’s leather industry recorded a 15.4% drop in output during March 2002, with only computer equipment (-47%) and transport materials (-18.6%) posting heavier falls.

Cited for the decline was a sluggish retail sector and a shorter-than-normal working month caused by Easter week falling in March instead of April.

Published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) the figures also show that industrial output, adjusted for the number of working days, fell 0.2% year-on-year in March. It slumped 9.3% on an unadjusted basis.