Growth in Estonian industry output stood at 4.5% year on year in August 2026, while manufacturers’ export sales rose by 8% at current prices.
Output rose in all three core industrial sectors, Statistics Estonia reported on 5 October. Mining production increased by 25.3% and energy production by 56.9%, but manufacturing output grew by a more modest 1.2%. The production figures are measured at constant prices; the export-sales figure is measured at current prices and adjusted for working days.
Export sales outpace domestic sales
Manufacturers sold 66.2% of their August output abroad. Compared with the same month last year, export sales rose by 8%, against a 3.7% increase in domestic sales. Total manufacturing sales increased by 6.4%, on a working-day-adjusted basis at current prices.
Manufacturing output grew for a second consecutive month, following a 1% year-on-year increase in July. The recovery was uneven: output rose in fewer than half of manufacturing activities in August, compared with two-thirds in July. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing production rose by 2.6%.
Electrical equipment leads manufacturing growth
Riin Kadarik, a leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, identified electrical equipment as the largest contributor to manufacturing growth in industry. Its output rose by 12.2% year on year, supported by greater production of electric motors, generators and transformers. Machinery and equipment production was up by 19.7%, fabricated metal products by 6.9%, and motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers by 19.1%.
Other large branches contracted. Wood products fell by 0.6%, while food production declined by 3.8%, mainly because of lower dairy output. Production of computers, electronic and optical products was down by 2.1%. The split between growing and shrinking activities explains why the overall manufacturing gain remained smaller than the increase in industrial output.
Energy lifts the industry-wide figure
Energy production’s 56.9% year-on-year rise helped lift the industry-wide result. Electricity output increased by 43.3% and heat output by 46.5%, measured in megawatt-hours. Statistics Estonia attributed the electricity increase in part to stronger wind and solar generation and noted that output in August last year was unusually low. Overall, the figures point to firmer overseas sales, as Estonia’s export and industry engine revs up.
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