European industry avoids a new decline in June, but Italy is going in the opposite direction. Industrial production remains unchanged in the Eurozone compared to May and grows by 0.2% in the European Union. In Italy, however, it decreased by 1% in just one month. Among the four largest economies in the euro area, it is the worst result: Germany grows by 0.2%, France remains stable and Spain falls by 0.7%.
The comparison emerges from the new data on European industrial production published by Eurostat, referring to June 2026. The Italian gap does not only concern the comparison with the previous month: compared to June 2025 the Eurozone recorded growth of 0.1% and the entire EU of 0.6%, while Italy still lost 0.6%.
The data does not mean that the Italian industry is the one that is doing worse overall in Europe: in June there are countries with much more marked declines, but among Germany, France, Italy and Spain, which represent the main economies of the euro area, Italy presents the most negative monthly variation and also the weakest trend result.
Industrial production stops in the Eurozone, Italy at -1%
In June, seasonally adjusted industrial production remained unchanged in the Eurozone after +0.3% in May. In the European Union, however, it increased by 0.2%, after +0.3% in the previous month.
Italy arrives at the same event with a decidedly different picture. Istat data on industrial production for June had already indicated a decrease of 1% compared to May, after -0.3% in the previous month.
The European comparison, however, now allows us to give that number a different dimension.
In June, compared to May:
- Germany: +0.2%
- France: 0%
- Spain: -0.7%
- Italy: -1%
Among the four major economies of the Eurozone, therefore, Italy records the steepest contraction.
It is not the worst data for the European Union: Eurostat reports much stronger decreases in Luxembourg (-10.7%), Portugal (-3.9%) and Estonia (-2.2%). At the other extreme, production grew by 5.4% in Denmark, 5.2% in Croatia and 2.1% in both Lithuania and Finland.
Even on an annual basis, Italy remains behind other large economies
The gap does not disappear by extending the comparison to twelve months.
In June, industrial production in the Eurozone increased by 0.1% compared to the same month in 2025, while growth reached 0.6% in the EU as a whole.
Among the four main economies of the euro area, Spain presents the best dynamics, with +1%. Germany and France both recorded a decrease of 0.5%. Italy instead fell by 0.6%.
It is a limited difference compared to Germany and France, but it confirms an important characteristic of the June data: the Italian industry is weaker in both the monthly and annual comparisons.
The data should be read together with the most recent signals from manufacturing. In July the Italian PMI index remained above 50, but slowed from 52.2 to 51.3 points, while the Eurozone accelerated to 51.9.
Machinery and capital goods are the weak point of June
To understand what weighs on the Italian result we need to go into the different sectors.
According to Istat, in June production grew compared to May only in energy, +0.8%. However, consumer goods decreased by 0.7%, intermediate goods by 0.9% and above all capital goods by 2.1%.
The weakness of capital goods is particularly significant because this category includes machinery and equipment used by companies in production processes.
The Eurozone also recorded a contraction in capital goods in June, but more limited: -1.4%. Intermediate goods decreased by 0.8%, while energy increased by 1.5%. Supporting the European data are, above all, non-durable consumer goods, growing by 3%.
The comparison therefore shows that part of the weakness is European, but in Italy the slowdown in productive investments represented by capital goods is more marked.
On an annual basis the Italian picture is less uniform. Capital goods grew by 0.6% and energy by 1.7%, while intermediate goods decreased by 1.2% and, above all, consumer goods by 3.2%.
Textiles in difficulty, electronics and means of transport are growing
Even within the Italian industry the differences are profound.
Istat indicates among the sectors with the highest annual growth the production of computers, electronics and optics, +4.5%, followed by means of transport, +3.2%, and the supply of electricity and gas, +2.3%.
On the other hand, textiles, clothing, leather goods and accessories decreased by 7.1%. Other manufacturing industries and machinery repair and installation lost 3.6%, while the production of machinery and equipment fell by 2.3%.
Photography is, therefore, that of an industry that does not all move in the same direction.
The quarter remains positive: because -1% doesn’t tell the whole story
The June data must not, however, be isolated from the rest of the quarter.
Istat reports that on average in the second quarter of 2026 Italian industrial production increased by 0.4% compared to the first three months of the year. In the first half of the year as a whole, production adjusted for calendar effects also recorded growth of 0.5% compared to the same period in 2025.
Italian GDP also continued to grow in the second quarter: the preliminary Istat estimate indicated +0.3% compared to the first three months of the year and +0.8% on an annual basis, data already analyzed by QuiFinanza in the in-depth analysis of the growth of the Italian economy in the first half of 2026.
Italy is not in a phase of generalized decline in economic activity, but June shows greater industrial fragility than the other large Eurozone economies.
Eurostat strongly revises May data
Finally, there is a technical element that should not be overlooked. With the August publication, Eurostat significantly revised the May data.
The monthly change in the Eurozone was corrected from the previous -0.2% to +0.3%, while for the European Union it went from -0.1% to +0.3%. The annual figure for the euro area was also revised from -1.2% to -0.1%, the EU one from -0.3% to +0.6%.
This makes the European picture less negative than it appeared a month ago and it is precisely for this reason that the Italian -1% in June stands out even more in comparison with a Eurozone which, after the revisions, has reached June for three months without a monthly contraction in industrial production.
