Civil engineering pulls EU construction out of crisis

The European civil engineering sector registered its first year-on-year growth in August since the drop caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, according to the latest data published by Eurostat and seen by Kallanish.

Overall EU construction sector output dropped -1.5% y-o-y in August, its smallest fall since the downtrend started in March. Building activity was down -2% y-o-y, but civil engineering output picked up 0.9% y-o-y.

Among the largest markets in Europe, France was the best performing country in August. Overall construction output in the country was in line with that of August 2019, therefore returning to pre-coronavirus levels. Germany, on the other hand, saw its output still down -1.8% y-o-y and Spain registered a fall of -8.6% y-o-y.