By Anthony Harrup
MEXICO CITY--Mexican industrial production rose in November from the previous month, extending its recovery to six consecutive months following sharp declines in April and May caused by factory closures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1% from October, with gains in mining and construction partly offset by lower utilities output, while manufacturing production was unchanged, the National Statistics Institute said Monday.
With the solid November increase from October, and strong auto production data for December, industrial output should give a lift to fourth-quarter gross domestic product, Capital Economics Latin America economist Nikhil Sanghani said in a report.
Mexico's production of cars and light trucks rose 18% in December from a year earlier, compared with a 1.4% increase in November.
Authorities in Mexico City and other parts of the country ordered the closure in late December and early January of restaurants, malls and other businesses they consider nonessential because of an increase in hospitalizations.
"A key lesson from the recent second waves in emerging Europe is that manufacturing output held up well as factories stayed open, while stricter lockdown measures hit services particularly hard. We suspect that Mexico's economy will see a similar divergence," Mr. Sanghani said.
Compared with November of 2019, Mexico's industrial production fell 3.7%, with manufacturing output down 2.1%, and construction down 7.8%. Mining production fell 2.4% from the year earlier month, including a 3.2% drop in oil and gas output, the statistics institute said.
In the January-November period, industrial production was down 10.7% from the first 11 months of 2019.
Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-11-21 0841ET
