Poland Industrial Output, Retail Sales Fall In December

(RTTNews) - Poland's industrial production dropped at a faster pace in December on weak manufacturing and mining output and retail sales posted an unexpected decline, data from Statistics Poland showed on Monday.

Industrial production fell 3.9 percent annually, following a 0.3 percent drop in November. Economists had forecast a 5.0 percent decrease.

Within total production, mining and quarrying output dropped 3.5 percent and manufacturing contracted 5.6 percent in December.

By contrast, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply gained 11.4 percent and water supply, sewerage waste management and remediation activities gained 1.6 percent.

Month-on-month, industrial output grew 0.2 percent after a 0.6 percent increase.

Retail sales decreased 2.3 percent from a year ago, in contrast to an increase of 0.2 percent in the same period last year, the statistical office said in a separate communique. Sales were expected to grow 1.5 percent.

Compared to November, retail sales posted an increase of 11.0 percent. There was a notable decrease in retail sales via internet in December. The share of sales via internet declined to 9.4 percent from 11.7 percent.

In the whole year of 2023, retail sales decreased 2.7 percent compared to a growth of 5.0 percent in 2022.

Another data from the statistical office showed that average wages and salaries increased nominally by 9.6 percent in December from a year ago. On a monthly basis, average wages were up 4.7 percent.