Industrial production in the eurozone slumped for the second consecutive month in October, data released Wednesday showed, raising concerns that the currency bloc's economy will slide deeper into recession the coming months. The European Union statistics office Eurostat said output fell by an unexpected 1.4 per cent after it contracted by 2.3 per cent in September.

Analysts had anticipated the data would show output posting a small rise in October. Output grew by 0.7 per cent in Greece, by 2.7 per cent in Ireland and by 1.2 per cent in Spain. In Portugal, industrial production was up 4.8 per cent. Output in Italy, however, fell by 1.1 per cent. Year-on-year, eurozone industrial production dropped 3.6 per cent in October. In the broader 27-member European Union, output fell by 1 per cent in October from a 2.1-per-cent drop in September. Industrial production was down 3.1 per cent in October compared with the same month last year.

Copyright Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 2012