Spanish factories boost output

MADRID: Spanish industry ramped up production in the year to May for the seventh straight month, official data showed Monday, as an economic recovery appeared to gather pace.

Output by Spain's factories and utilities climbed 2.5 percent in May from a year earlier, after correcting to smooth out seasonal blips, the National Statistics Institute said.

Industry appears to be responding to a gentle pick-up in the economy, which emerged in mid-2013 from a double-dip recession sparked by a 2008 property crash.

Nevertheless, demand for goods is likely to be capped by high unemployment, which remains at 26 percent.

Factories boosted output of consumer goods by 3.2 percent in the year to May, the latest figures showed.

Production of business equipment, such as machinery, rose 2.1 percent and output of intermediate goods used in manufacturing, such as chemicals, climbed 2.9 percent.

Utilities raised energy output by 1.5 percent.