Industrial production falls 0.3% as eurozone recovery struggles

Eurozone industrial production contracted unexpectedly for a second month in a row in June, further denting hopes of a stronger recovery as the bloc starts to take the hit from conflict in Iraq, Ukraine and Gaza, fresh data showed yesterday.

So-called factory gate prices, across the eurozone, fell 0.3% on the month in June, after a 1.1% drop in May, against market expectations of a 0.3% rise.

When compared with the same period of last year, production was flat, following an upwardly revised 0.6% rise in May, while economists polled by Reuters expected a 0.1% annual increase in June.