Industrial production growth remained sluggish in December 2010. Mining output contracted by 3.4% year on year in the month as oil production continued to fall. Electricity output increased by 2.4% year on year, to record its slowest rate of growth in 16 months. The important manufacturing sector, which accounts for 64% of the industrial production index, performed slightly better, recording an increase of 7.8% year on year in December, up from 7% in November. Total industrial production grew by a sluggish 4.2%, a much slower pace of growth than in November, when it rose by 5.4%. Quarterly comparisons also point to a moderating trend. Manufacturing output grew by 6.4% year on year in the fourth quarter, compared with a gain of 7.2% in the third quarter. Production levels are stagnating: almost no growth in sequential terms has been recorded since the second quarter. In 2010 as a whole, manufacturing production increased by 11%, recovering from its 10% plunge in 2009, but the level of output was no higher in 2010 than in 2008.