(Photo: ThyssenKrupp AG)

BRUSSELS, Belgium Official figures show that industrial output across the 17 European unio countries that use the euro fell by a massive monthly rate of 1.5 per cent in July.

The decline, reported Thursday by Eurostat, was much bigger than expected the consensus of analysts forecasts was for a far more modest decline of around 0.3 per cent.

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The fall, which was fuelled by a 2.3 per cent dro monthly decline in Germany, is also likely to stoke fears over the state of the eurozone economy following its modest rebound from recession in the second quarter.

The monthly fall took the annual rate of decline down to 2.1 per cent from the 0.4 per cent recorded in June.