Russia Industrial Output April 2008

Russian industrial production rose at an annual rate of 9.2 percent in April, the highest in nine months, as manufacturers boosted output to meet demand in what is at the present time Europe's fastest growing domestic market. This compares with a 6.5percent rate in March, according to data released by the Federal Statistics Service Rostat earlier today

``Strong domestic demand for manufacturing was a factor,'' said Juri Kren, an emerging markets economist at IDEAglobal in London said. ``It's difficult for light- industry producers to compete with foreign products,'' but ``heavy industry dominates, however, because there's less foreign competition.''

Russia's 10th year of economic growth is alos producing a construction boom, boosting demand for new apartments and offices, with builders rapidly renewing the old Soviet-built housing stock. Brick production climbed by 11 percent in April, while crane output more than doubled and steel panel construction more than tripled, the service said.


Oil production, on the other hand, which Russia's greatest single source of revenue, declined 0.7 percent in April from a year earlier. Is there a lesson hidden away here somewhere?