The revival of the construction industry in Spain seems to be getting closer, after recent data revealed signs of growth in the sector’s activity. This latest indication of recovery comes from the EU statistics office, Eurostat. According to the organisation’s production data related to construction in Spain, construction activity shot up by 23.9% in February, compared to the same period of 2013.
This significant increase was only surpassed by Slovenia (33.1%) and Hungary (28.3%). Behind Spain, but still with positive figures, stood Poland (14.4%) and Germany (14.1%), while in contrast, the greatest decreases were recorded in Romania (-14.7%), Portugal (-11.5%) and Italy (-7.9%).
Year-on-year, a rise in construction activity of 6.7% was registered in the eurozone in February, and of 5.5% for the whole of the European Union (EU), compared with the same month of 2013. The increase in the eurozone was driven by a 6.6% rise in buildings production, and a 7.6% increase in civil engineering, while in the EU, the positive data was due to a 5.9% increase in the production of buildings and a 3.9% rise in civil engineering.
Month-on-month (February compared to January), production in the construction sector increased by 0.1% in both the eurozone countries and in the whole of the EU. In January, the index was also positive, with monthly growth of 1.6% in the eurozone and 1.4% in the EU, indicating that the positive trend seems to be consolidating.
February over January, the progression of production in the eurozone was due to a rise of 1.1% in the branch of civil engineering, while the construction of buildings dropped back by 0.4%. In the whole of the EU, progress was due to the increase of 1% in civil engineering and a 0.4% decrease in the buildings sector.
El Mundo reported that, by country, the largest increases in production, month-on-month, were registered in Poland (17.4%), Hungary (8.2%) and Spain (3%), while the most significant declines were registered in Slovenia (-4.9%), Italy (-3.7%) and the United Kingdom (-2.8%).