TUNIS, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia's industrial production index declined by 1.1 percent in the first seven months, the National Institute of Statistics (NIS) of Tunisia said Friday.
This was compared to a decline of 0.2 percent during the same period last year, said the NIS, the leading Tunisian public institution specializing in national statistics.
The NIS said the decline was attributed to failures in certain sectors, notably the mining and non-mineral products, which declined by 6.6 percent.
This was explained by two factors, namely a fall of 1.9 percent in cement and chemical productions, and a sharp decline of 11.7 percent in energy-producing mining products, the NIS said.
But non-energy-producing mining products grew by 17 percent due to an increase in phosphate production, which rose to 2.78 million tons in the first seven months from 2.07 million tons in 2016.
The upward trend also led to a 3-percent rise in mechanical and electrical production.
For October 2017, the NIS predicted a 1.2-percent growth in Tunisian industrial production on the basis of a possible improvement in major indicators in this sector.
