Industrial production decreased as a whole by 0.5% in the year 2016, against a decline of 2.4% in the year 2015, according to figures published Wednesday, February 22, 2017 By the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
This decline, explained the INS, is mainly due to the drop in production in the agri-food industry (-2.1%) due to the sharp drop in olive oil production (130,400 Tons in the year 2016 compared to 302,200 tons in the year 2015), the rubber and plastics industry (-3.5%) and the energy extraction industry (-8.7% ).
On the other hand, according to the INS, production has increased in the non-energy extraction sector (+ 5.4%) following the resumption of production of crude phosphate and the chemical industry sector (+ 13.9%).
Production also increased in the mechanical and electrical industry sector by 2% and the petroleum refining industry by 3.5%.
