A manufacturing plant production line with tins.

The EU’s value of sold production at constant prices declined for the second consecutive year in 2024, falling by 2.0% compared with 2023, following a 1.4% decrease in 2023 (compared with 2022). This comes after 2 successive increases in 2021 (+8.5% compared with 2020) and 2022 (+0.3% compared with 2021).

The EU’s production increased gradually every year in the period 2014-2018. In 2019, the value of sold production registered a small decrease, then dropped sharply in 2020 due to the pandemic's effects. The outbreak of COVID-19 and related containment measures widely introduced by EU countries had a significant impact on the EU’s industrial production in 2020, however, 2021 and 2022 showed increases in production in all the industrial activity groups. Since then, the industrial production in the EU has been slowly decreasing.

Evolution of EU's value of sold production, 2014-2024, 2021=100. Chart. See link to the full dataset below.

Source dataset: ds_056120 and  computed data

In nominal terms, the EU’s value of sold production went down from €5 975 billion in 2023 to €5 860 billion in 2024, indicating a 1.9% decrease.

This information comes from data on the production of manufactured goods published by Eurostat. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on industrial production, which also includes analysis by country and sector. 

Value of sold production of pharmaceuticals up by 12.7%

Looking at the top 10 groups of manufacturing activities, the highest increase in sold production value was recorded in the manufacturing of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations, with a 12.7% annual increase at current prices from €234 billion in 2023 to €263 billion in 2024. The manufacturing of food, beverages and tobacco recorded a 1.8% rise in sold production value at current prices, increasing from €1 061 billion in 2023 to €1 081 billion in 2024. Similarly, the manufacturing of chemicals increased by 1.5% from €456 billion in 2023 to €462 billion in 2024.

Other groups of manufacturing activities recorded decreases. The largest decline was an 8.6% drop in the manufacturing of electrical equipment, from €299 billion in 2023 to €273 billion in 2024, followed by a 6.4% decrease in the manufacturing of motor vehicles and other transport equipment (from €934 billion to €874 billion). Manufacturing of machinery and other equipment decreased by 4.7% (€600 billion to €572 billion), and the manufacturing of basic metals and fabricated metal products registered a 4.3% decline (from €814 billion to €779 billion).

Value of sold production in the EU, 2023 and 2024, € billion, by group of manufacturing activity. Chart. See link tot he full dataset below.

Source dataset: ds_056120 and computed data

For more information

Methodological notes

  • Constant prices (used in the first visual) are adjusted for inflation and measured using the prices of a fixed base year (2021) to reflect value changes over time. Current (nominal) prices are measured using the actual prices in the year the goods are produced.
  • The production figures in the news item are presented as rounded amounts in billions of dollars, while the rates of change are calculated using the exact totals from the database.
  • The analysis of the manufacturing activities refers to the division breakdown (first 2-digit level) of the Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE). Full names of NACE categories listed in this news item are as follows:
    • Food, beverages and tobacco;
    • Motor vehicles and other transport equipment;
    • Basic metals and fabricated metal products;
    • Machinery and equipment n.e.c.;
    • Rubber, plastic and other non-metallic mineral products;
    • Chemicals;
    • Other manufacturing, and repair and installation of machinery and equipment;
    • Manufacture of wood and paper products, and printing;
    • Manufacture of electrical equipment;
    • Manufacture of pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemical and botanical products;
    • Other products.

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