LONDON • Industrial production growth in the euro zone eased at a faster-than-expected pace at the start of the year amid weaker gains in almost all sectors, preliminary Eurostat data showed yesterday.

Industrial production was up 0.9 per cent from December, versus expectations of 2 per cent growth.

Compared with January 2016, industrial production rose 0.6 per cent, falling short of expectations for 0.9 per cent growth.

Energy production growth slowed slightly to 6.9 per cent from 7 per cent, while durable consumer goods production eased to 1.5 per cent from 4.3 per cent.

Non-durable goods output fell 2.6 per cent after a 1.4 per cent gain - the first decline in three months.

Capital goods production fell 0.8 per cent, following a 0.5 per cent growth in December.

"January's rise in euro zone industrial production did not quite reverse December's 1.2 per cent decline and suggests the economy made a slower start to 2017 than the surveys have implied," said a note by economists of Capital Economics.

In the 28-member European Union group of nations, industrial production was up 0.5 per cent on the month and 1.3 per cent on the year, RTTNews reported.