BRUSSELS, March 20 (Reuters) - Euro zone industrial output plunged again in January against the previous month for a fifth straight month of decline, pointing to a further contraction in the economy at the start of the year.
Industrial production in the 16 countries using the euro fell 3.5 percent against December for a 17.3 percent annual drop -- the deepest decline since records began in 1990, the European Union's statistics office said.
"The very weak entry into the first quarter makes a huge GDP contraction extremely likely in the first quarter: our current forecast is -1.7 percent," Unicredit said in a research note published before the release of the data, in which the bank forecast only a 3 percent monthly fall.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected on average a 4.0 percent monthly decline in output and a 15.5 percent year-on-year fall.
Eurostat said capital and intermediate goods production suffered the most, falling 6.0 percent and 3.6 percent on the month respectively for 21.4 and 24.4 percent year-on-year declines.