MONTEVIDEO, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Uruguay's industrial production declined 3.2 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2019, mainly due to a fall in the petroleum refinery industry, the National Institute of Statistics (INE) report showed.
Excluding the processing of crude oil and its derivatives, the industrial Index of Physical Volume (IVF) contracted 1.8 percent year-on-year, the INE said in its Monday report.
The industrial area which negatively affected the IVF most was "production derived from petroleum and coal," which declined 9.7 percent, followed by the "production of chemical substances and products," with a decrease of 5.8 percent, the report showed.
The area of "paper and paper products manufacturing" saw the best performance with a 2.3-percent growth, according to the report.
The IVF fell 9.9 percent in June and maintained a 3.0-percent increase over the past 12 months.
Uruguay's industrial production accumulated an 11.6-percent growth in 2018, which was driven by the revival of refinery industry after months of maintenance work ended.
