German industrial production rose sharply in January

According to provisional data of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in January 2020, production in industry was up by 3.0% on the previous month on a price, seasonally and calendar adjusted basis. Economists had expected a 1.7% increase. In December 2019, the corrected figure shows an decrease of 2.2% (primary -3.5%) from November 2019.

In January 2020, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up by 2.9%. Within industry, the production of intermediate goods increased by 5.1% and the production of capital goods by 2.1. The production of consumer goods remained at the same level of the previous month. Outside industry, energy production was down by 0.2% in January 2020 and the production in construction increased by 4.7%.

A separate report from Destatis showed that Germany exported goods to the value of 106.5 billion euros and imported goods to the value of 92.7 billion euros in January 2020. Destatis also reports that German exports decreased by 2.1% and imports by 1.8% in January 2020 year on year. After calendar and seasonal adjustment, exports remained unchanged and imports were up 0.5% compared with December 2019.

The foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 13.9 billion euros in January 2020. In January 2019, the surplus of the foreign trade balance amounted to 14.5 billion euros. The calendar and seasonally adjusted surplus of January 2020 was 18.5 billion euros.