German industrial production rose sharply in October

According to the report from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in October 2020, production in industry was up by 3.2% on the previous month on a price, seasonally and calendar adjusted basis. Economists had expected a 1.6% increase. Compared with October 2019, the decrease in calendar adjusted production in industry amounted to 3.0%.

Compared with February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the corona pandemic in Germany, production in October 2020 was 4.9% lower in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms. Production in the automotive industry - the largest branch of manufacturing - rose by 9.9% on the previous month in October. It was by just under 6% below the level of February 2020.

In October 2020, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up by 3.3%. Within industry, the production of intermediate goods showed an increase by 4.0% and the production of capital goods by 5.2%. The production of consumer goods decreased by 2.4%. Outside industry, energy production was up by 4.0% in October 2020 and the production in construction increased by 1.6%.

In September 2020, the corrected figure on the production in industry shows an increase of 2.3% (provisional: +1.6%) from August 2020.