Brussels, Aug 12 (DPA) Industrial production in the 16-nation euro area posted a monthly decline of 0.6 percent in June and plummeted by 17 percent when compared to the same month last year, data released Wednesday showed.

The European Union statistics office (Eurostat) said month-on-month output in the 27-member European Union also fell, by 0.2 percent. Year-on-year, it fell by 15.6 percent.

Industrial production in the euro area has been falling steadily since last year, except in May, when it posted a revised month-on-month rise of 0.6 percent.

Figures for the EU's four biggest economies were mixed. In Italy, industrial output fell by a monthly rate of 1.2 percent, while output was steady in Germany. Production rose by 0.5 percent in France and by 0.3 percent in Britain.

The biggest monthly drop - 2.7 percent - came in Denmark, while Ireland's industrial production surged 9.3 percent from May.

Wednesday's figures came a day before Eurostat was due to release its preliminary estimates for European gross domestic product in the second quarter.