The continuation of the conflict and tensions on commodity prices freezes industrial production which marks -2.0% in March and -2.5% in April.
These are the estimates of the Centro Studi Confindustria which records the decline after the rebound in February (+ 4.0%) which followed the fall in January (-3.4%) and December (-1%).
"The surveys on entrepreneurial sentiment and the downsized dynamics of orders and business expectations - we read - do not suggest significant improvements in the short term".
In April, the Csc points out, the average price of natural gas was 698% higher than before the outbreak of the pandemic;
that of North Sea oil 56% more. The still high commodity prices are holding back production activity "along all the supply chains".
In the first quarter of 2022, therefore, the Confindustria Study Center estimates a decrease in industrial production of -1.6% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. The further decline in production detected by CSC in April (-2.5%) leads the change acquired for the second quarter at -2.5%, compromising the dynamics of Italian GDP in the second quarter, after the decline in the first.
Orders in volume decreased in March by -0.6% compared to February, in April by -0.4%.