German industrial production unexpectedly fell in August

According to the report from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in August 2020, production in industry was down by 0.2% on the previous month on a price, seasonally and calendar adjusted basis. Economists had expected a 1.5% increase. 

Compared with August 2019, the decrease in calendar adjusted production in industry amounted to 9.6%.

The corona crisis has affected the development in manufacturing for several months now. Compared with February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the corona pandemic in Germany, new orders in July 2020 were 10.8 % lower in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms.

In August 2020, production in industry excluding energy and construction was down by 0.7%. Within industry, the production of intermediate goods showed an increase by 3.3%. The production of consumer goods decreased by 1.3% and the production of capital goods by 3.6%. Outside industry, energy production was up by 6.7% in August 2020 and the production in construction decreased by 0.3%.

Production in the automotive industry - the largest branch of manufacturing - fell by 12.5% on the previous month in August, following an increase of 8.9% in July. This means that it was by just under 25% below the level of February 2020.