Industrial production in the eurozone was stable in December 2014 when compared to November.
But annual production was slightly lower by 0.2% than it had been in December 2013.
Although there were periods of increased production during spring, summer and autumn, by December output had fallen back to where it was a year ago.
The situation for Portugal, however, was worse. Manufacturing output in December 2014 was down by -3.6% compared to the December before. Eurostat said this was the second deepest fall in the region after Ireland which suffered a whopping 12.4% drop in December.
The picture for the year was no more reassuring for Portugal. Annual output was down -3.1% for the year.
This was the third steepest decline, following Greece (-4.2%) and Malta (-3.8%).
Annual output during the summer months was on the rise, but manufacturing fell in September. October brought a small rally but November disappointed with a decline.
