BRUSSELS, July 14 (Reuters) - Euro zone industrial output rose month-on-month in May for the first time since August 2008 in a sign the economic recession may be bottoming out.
Industrial production in the 16-country euro area gained 0.5 percent on the month but fell 17.0 percent year-on-year, the European Union's statistics office said on Tuesday.
Rising output of intermediate, capital and non-durable consumer goods boosted the monthly result.
However, the increase compared with April came in below the expectations of economists polled by Reuters, who had forecast a 1.2 percent monthly gain and a 17.7 percent annual fall.
Eurostat revised upwards its production data for April to a monthly contraction of 1.4 percent from the previously reported fall of 1.9 percent, and to a year-on-year drop of 20.5 percent versus the initially reported 21.6 percent decline.
Industrial production accounts for roughly 17 percent of euro zone gross domestic product, and the May data could mean the economic contraction in the second quarter was less severe than previously expected.
The euro zone economy shrank by a record 2.5 percent on a quarterly basis in the first three months of 2009, and the European Commission expects it to have contracted by 0.6 percent in the second quarter. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Dale Hudson)