Industrial Production Climbs 11.8% in 1H07

According to the State Statistics Committee, industrial production grew 11.8% yoy in January-June 2007 and 0.5% mom. Industrial output was up 10.4% yoy in the month of June. Polina Khomenko: The major growth drivers were machine building (up 23.3% yoy in 6M07), and food industry (13.8% yoy). Growth of the metallurgy sector has slightly slowed (13.9% yoy in 6M07 versus 15.8% yoy in 5M07), due to seasonal volatility. We expect industrial growth to keep slowing to 9% yoy in 2007.