Swedish Industrial Output Falls 3.5%

(RTTNews) - Sweden's industrial production declined for the third straight month in March, data from Statistics Sweden showed on Monday.

Industrial production fell a calendar-adjusted 3.5 percent year-over-year in March, following a 0.7 percent decrease in February.

The chemical and pharmaceutical industry was the industry with the largest negative yearly development among the largest manufacturing industries, with a decrease of 15.2 percent, the agency said.

Services, excluding financial and insurance services, rose at a slower pace of 0.7 percent in March, following a 2.5 percent rise a month ago.

On a monthly basis, industrial production rose a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent in March.

Separate official data showed that industrial orders grew 10.7 percent annually in March and increased 5.2 percent compared to last month.