Industrial production expands 4.7% in July, represents most significant rise this year

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SANTIAGO.- Today the Federation of Chilean Industry (SOFOFA) announced a 4.7% hike in physical industrial production, which represents the most significant increase so far this year. Meanwhile, total physical sales surged 5.6% compared to the same month during 2007.

The figure was marked by the fact that July of this year possessed two work days more than July of 2007, boosting the growth rate by two or three percentage points.

After deseasonalizing the series, production registered growth of 3.5% over the last 12 months, while sales rose by 2.9% in comparison to July of 2007.

With these new figures, industrial production has accumulated an increase of 1.9% for the January-July period of 2008, while industrial sales grew by 1.0% during the same period. Internal sales climbed 1.9%.

As a result, the SOFOFA has maintained its growth estimate for 2008 industrial activity at approximately 2%.