In March, there was a decline in industrial production, according to Statistics Finland. This decrease was attributed to factors such as labor disputes and maintenance shutdowns. The seasonally adjusted industrial production decreased by 3.9% from the previous month and overall industrial production decreased by 7.7% from a year ago.
The impact of labor disputes was evident in the forest industry, while maintenance shutdowns led to decreased production in the electricity, gas, heating and air conditioning maintenance industry. The only sectors that saw growth were mining and quarrying as well as the food industry.
In the technology industry, the value of new orders received in January-March was notably lower than in the same period last year due to challenges faced by the industry such as thinner order flows. However, despite this grim outlook based on order development, companies have slightly improved expectations for the future due to expectations of a drop in interest rates which could stimulate demand in the future. The ECB is expected to lower its key interest rates in June which could have implications for demand stimulation.