sju./niza. Frankfurt/Paris ⋅ Despite bulging order books, German industrial production is not moving anywhere. In April, it rose by a seasonally and calendar-adjusted 0.3 percent compared to the previous month, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Wednesday. Total manufacturing output – including energy and construction – rose 0.7 percent but could not offset a 3.7 percent slump in March in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While construction output shrank by 2.1 percent month-on-month in April, energy production increased by 16.1 percent after falling by around 11 percent in March. According to the statisticians, the reason for these strong rates of change are the fluctuations in the generation of energy from wind power. According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, the automotive sector was able to increase its production within industry by 6.8 percent after the very sharp decline in March. In contrast, the heavy mechanical engineering sector reduced its production by 1 percent