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.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
RSS