German industrial production grew less than expected in September

According to the report from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), in September 2020, production in industry was up by 1.6% on the previous month on a price, seasonally and calendar adjusted basis. Economists had expected a 2.7% increase.

Compared with September 2019, the decrease in calendar adjusted production in industry amounted to 7.3%.

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, production in September 2020 were 8.4 % lower in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms.

In September 2020, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up by 2.0%. Within industry, the production of intermediate goods showed an increase by 1.4%. The production of consumer goods increased by 3.0% and the production of capital goods by 2.2%. Outside industry, energy production was down by 2.5% in September 2020 and the production in construction increased by 1.5%.

Production in the automotive industry - the largest branch of manufacturing - rise by 10.0% on the previous month in September, following a decrease of 10.3% in August. This means that it was by just under 15% below the level of February 2020.