BRUSSELS: Official figures show industrial production across the 19-country eurozone spiked by a monthly rate of 2.1 percent in January in a development that may ease some concerns about underlying economic conditions.

The bigger than anticipated increase followed two monthly declines, including a 0.5 percent drop in December. The consensus in the markets was for a more modest increase of 1.6 percent.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, was largely behind the gain, with a 2.9 percent spike in output during the month.

The figure reported Monday by Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency, means that industrial output across the eurozone was 2.8 percent on a year-on-year basis, a big turnaround from the 0.1 percent fall recorded in December.