Index of industrial production, October 2000

The rates of change varied a great deal among the manufacturing sectors. The highest growth rates in October are found in traditional export industries like fish, paper and paper products and basic metals. There is a high demand in the export markets for these products. On average the production in chemicals and chemical products rose by about 2 per cent in three months. It is mainly due to expanded production capacity from key producers.

Better performance in engineering industries

Higher demand from the domestic markets in the third quarter contributed to an upswing in parts of the engineering industries. Looking at seasonally adjusted figures, the output in the oil platforms and modules industry rose by 4.3 per cent in October, which was the highest growth recorded since the begining of 2000. However, the output level in October is still far below the level in the same month last year.

Oil and gas production

The oil and gas extraction output increased by 4.5 per cent from September to October 2000. The weekly adjusted figures showed a production growth of 9.1 per cent in October compared with the corresponding month last year. The Oseberg- and Åsgard-field started gas production and several other fields also recorded high oil production in October.