Statistics Explained

Archive:Fabricated metal product manufacturing statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1

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Data from January 2009. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article belongs to a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the various economic activities in the European Union (EU). The present article covers the manufacture of miscellaneous fabricated metal products, corresponding to NACE Rev 1.1 Groups 28.6 and 28.7, which is part of the metals and metal products sector. Miscellaneous fabricated metal products are finished products for use in other industrial and construction activities, as well as final consumer markets. This article covers the manufacture of:

  • cutlery, tools and general hardware, such as locks and hinges (NACE Group 28.6);
  • other fabricated metal products, such as metal drums, light metal packaging, wire products, fasteners, baths and sinks, and household articles (NACE Group 28.7).
Table 1: Manufacture of cutlery, tools and general hardware; manufacture of other fabricated metal products (NACE Groups 28.6 and 28.7). Structural profile, EU-27, 2006 (1)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

Figure 1: Manufacture of cutlery, tools and general hardware; manufacture of other fabricated metal products (NACE Groups 28.6 and 28.7). Index of production, EU-27 (2000=100)
Table 2: Miscellaneous fabricated metal products (CPA Groups 28.6 and 28.7). Production of selected products, EU-27, 2007 (1)
Table 3: Manufacture of cutlery, tools and general hardware; manufacture of other fabricated metal products (NACE Groups 28.6 and 28.7). Expenditure, productivity and profitability, EU-27, 2006 (1)

There were 106.3 thousand enterprises in the Member States for whom one of the miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing activities (NACE Groups 28.6 and 28.7) was their main activity in 2006. These enterprises provided employment to 1.1 million persons in the EU-27, corresponding to just over one fifth (21.9 %) of all persons working in the metals and metal products manufacturing (NACE Subsection DJ) sector in 2006. The added value of EUR 49.7 billion generated by the EU-27’s miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing sector also contributed about one fifth (20.3 %) of the total value added within the metals and metal products manufacturing sector in 2006.

Looking in more detail, the manufacture of other miscellaneous fabricated metal products (NACE Group 28.7) subsector generated EUR 31.0 billion of value added in the EU-27 in 2006, about two thirds more than the manufacture of cutlery, tools and general hardware (NACE Group 28.6).

Miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing activities in Germany created EUR 16.9 billion of value added, corresponding to about one third (34.0 %) of the value added generated in the EU-27 in 2006. The second highest level of activity was in Italy, although it generated less than half of the value added created in Germany. As a proportion of non-financial business economy value added, however, the miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing sector contributed its highest share (2.6 %) in Slovenia, three times the average across the EU-27[1]. The Czech Republic was also relatively specialised in this activity in value added terms, as the contribution made by this sector was almost exactly double the EU-27 average.

The development in the EU-27’s production indices for the manufacture of cutlery, tools and general hardware (NACE Group 28.6) and the manufacture of other miscellaneous fabricated metal products (NACE Group 28.7) were quite different from those recorded for metals and metal products as a whole – although, in the case of the former, differences were restricted to the period after 2000. In contrast to a relatively unchanged level of output for metals and metal products manufacturing between 2000 and 2003, the output of cutlery, tools and general hardware continued to increase sharply through until 2002 before a contraction in 2003 and a couple of years of relative stability, just as the output of metals and metal products manufacturing began to grow steadily again. Although, the output of cutlery, tools and general hardware rose sharply in 2006, this was almost completely overturned in 2007, when output fell back to beneath its index level of 2002. Over the ten years through to 2007, the EU-27’s output of cutlery, tools and general hardware grew by an average 1.5 % per year.

In broad terms, the output of other miscellaneous fabricated metal products was relatively stable (rising and falling within a narrow 5 % band) between 1997 and 2005. Output within the EU-27 grew on average by 0.8 % per year over the ten years through to 2007 with the overall growth almost entirely due to the expansion in activity in 2006 and 2007.

Expenditure and productivity

Tangible investment in the EU-27’s miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing sector was EUR 5.6 billion in 2005, representing one fifth of the tangible investment made across metals and metal products manufacturing as a whole in the same year. In comparison to the value added generated by this sector in 2005, this corresponded to an investment rate of 11.7 %, a little lower than the corresponding rate (12.2 %) for metals and metal products manufacturing.

Despite average personnel costs of EUR 30.9 thousand per employee in the EU-27’s miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing sector in 2006 being about 4 % lower than the average across metals and metal products manufacturing, the proportion of operating expenditure accounted for by personnel costs was higher in the miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing sector (25.4 % in comparison with 19.2 %), underlining the relatively labour-intensive nature of these activities.

The EU-27’s miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing sector generated an average EUR 44.6 thousand of value added per person employed in 2006, which was 7.2 % less than the average for all metals and metal products manufacturing activities. This difference in apparent labour productivity was narrowed when taking account of the lower average personnel costs in this sector, resulting in a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the EU-27’s miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing sector of 144.3 % in 2006 (in comparison with a ratio of 149.3 % for all metals and metal products manufacturing activities). In the majority of the Member States, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of the miscellaneous fabricated metal products manufacturing sector was lower than the ratio for metals and metal products as a whole (particularly so in Slovakia) but there were a few Member States, namely Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Poland (2005), Sweden and the United Kingdom, where it was higher.

Data sources and availability

The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.

Other data sources include short-term statistics (STS) and the PRODCOM statistics on the production of manufactured goods.

Context

The metals and metal products manufacturing sector is part of a diverse and interwoven economic network that incorporates upstream sectors and large downstream segments of manufacturing such as the transport equipment manufacturing and construction sectors. The challenges faced by the EU’s metals and metal products manufacturing sector therefore have direct and indirect consequences on many other parts of the economy. Looking ahead, a Communication (COM(2008) 108) from the European Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the competitiveness of the metals industries was adopted in February 2008, and highlighted the challenges to be faced.

The EU-27 is largely dependent on imports of ore and concentrates for steel, ferro-alloys and non-ferrous metals production; it produces only 1.7 % of the world’s nickel, 2 % of its iron ore and 5 % of its copper (SEC(2007) 771). Access to minerals and secondary raw materials at competitive prices is important, especially given the exhaustion of certain deposits in the EU-27 over time or their absence, and supply constraints that have been exacerbated by the strong growth in international demand from emerging economies such as China and India. This concern was part of a raw materials initiative of the European Commission (COM(2008) 699).

Parts of the metals and metal products manufacturing sector are highly energy-intensive. Energy costs for the EU-27’s metals and metal products manufacturing sector accounted for 4.4 % of purchases of goods and services in 2006, which was the third joint highest proportion among the industrial structural business statistics sectors, albeit well behind non-energy mining and quarrying (10.1 %) and other nonmetallic mineral products (9.5 %). Within this sector, however, energy costs in the casting of metals subsector accounted for 7.2 % of purchases of goods and services in 2006 and in the first processing of ferrous metals as much as 7.9 %. This level of energy consumption has important implications for energy and environmental (particularly climate change) policy.

The metals and metal products manufacturing sector is covered by a Directive on integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) and REACH. A proposal from the European Commission on the review of EU Emissions trading system (ETS) adopted in January 2008 (COM(2008) 30) foresees the inclusion of non-ferrous metals from 2013 onwards, along with some transitional measures to avoid ‘carbon leakage’.

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

Dedicated section

Further information

Notes

  1. ↑ Bulgaria, Poland and Romania, 2005; Denmark, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
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