June 11, 2007

Canadian industries slightly increased the use of their production capacity during the first quarter of&nbsp ; 2007, halting four consecutive quarters of decline.

&nbsp ;
Capacity utilization edged up from&nbsp ; 82.4% in the fourth quarter of&nbsp ; 2006&nbsp ; to&nbsp ; 83.0%. This level was&nbsp ; 3.0&nbsp ; points below the rate posted in the fourth quarter of&nbsp ; 2005, before the quarterly drops observed in&nbsp ; 2006.
&nbsp ;
The industrial capacity utilization rate is the ratio of an industry’s actual output to its estimated potential output. For this release, rates have been revised back to the first quarter of&nbsp ; 2005&nbsp ; to reflect the revised source data.
&nbsp ;
Production rose slightly in the large manufacturing sector, but capacity use …

The industrial producer price index rose by 0.4% in the euro area in April 2007. In March, prices increased by 0.3%.

In April 2007, compared with April 2006, industrial producer prices gained 2.4% in the euro area.

The highest monthly increases were registered in Bulgaria and Greece (1.9%) and Denmark (1.8%). Decreases were recorded in the United Kingdom (-0.8%), Slovakia (-0.3%) and Belgium (-0.1%).

The highest year-over-year increases were recorded in Luxembourg (8.7%), Hungary (8%), Bulgaria (7.9%)&nbsp ; and Lithuania (7.3%). A decrease was registered in Denmark.

For more on European economic statistics, including industrial production, price indexes, construction output and industrial orders,&nbsp ; visit the MDM …