German industrial production declined more than expected in March, a second consecutive drop that could signal slackening demand in Europe’s largest economy.
Production, adjusted for seasonal swings, fell 1.3 percent from the prior month, when it dropped a revised 0.7 percent, data from the German Ministry of the Economy showed yesterday.
Economists in a Bloomberg survey had predicted a 0.2 percent decline in the typically volatile gauge.
Photo: EPA
Output rose 0.3 percent from a year earlier.
Slowing global growth has led the German economy to rely increasingly on domestic demand, bolstered by record-low unemployment. Yet business confidence deteriorated last month and the Bundesbank said that it expected slowing momentum in the second quarter amid global headwinds such as a slowdown in China.
Construction fell 3.2 percent from February, while intermediate goods declined 1.3 percent. Output of investment goods fell 1.4 percent and consumer goods slid 0.2 percent. Manufacturing fell 1.2 percent. Energy gained 0.3 percent.
Data on factory orders published on Monday signaled that industrial output should pick up in coming months. Orders jumped 1.9 percent in March, as a rebound in exports from outside the euro area helped make up for a lull in domestic demand.
However, Germany’s trade surplus ballooned in March, as exports rose, while imports fell, separate official data showed.
The trade surplus is a key gauge of an economy’s comparative strength and in recent months has highlighted the robustness of Europe’s biggest economy amid the current global economic uncertainties.
German exports grew by 1.9 percent to 101.3 billion euros (US$115 billion) in seasonally adjusted terms in March, the German federal statistics office calculated.
At the same time, imports — a measure of domestic demand — fell 2.3 percent to 77.6 billion euros.
That meant that the trade surplus — the balance between exports and imports — expanded sharply to 23.7 billion euros in March from 20 billion euros in February, the statisticians said.
On a 12-month basis, exports slipped by 0.5 percent in March, while imports declined by 4.3 percent. In raw terms, the trade surplus grew to 26 billion euros in March, compared with a surplus of 20.2 billion euros in February and a surplus of 23 billion euros in March last year.
Exports to the EU expanded by 1.7 percent on a 12-month basis, Destatis said.
Exports to the eurozone grew by 1 percent, while exports to countries outside Europe were down by 3.4 percent year-on-year, Destatis said.
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