Production in the industry as a whole declined by 1.1% in the first seven months of 2017, compared with a decline of 0.2% in the same period of the previous year, the National Institute of Statistics (INS) said on Wednesday.
This decrease is mainly due to lower production in the other non-metal product manufacturing sector (-6.6%) as a result of the decline in cement production and the chemical industry (-1.9%).
Production also dropped in the energy extraction sector by 11.7%, mainly due to lower production of crude oil.
On the other hand, production increased in the non-energy extraction sector (+ 17%) following a rise in the production of crude phosphate (2,781 thousand tons during the first seven months of 2017 against 2078 thousand tons during the same period of the previous year).
On the other hand, industrial production posted an increase in the mechanical and electrical industry sector by 3.0% and in the rubber and plastic industry sector by 3.3%.
