German industrial production falls to lowest level since 2020

German industrial production fell in June to its lowest level since May 2020, when output plunged due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was announced this Thursday.

According to preliminary data from the German federal statistics agency (Destatis) released this Thursday, German industrial production in June fell 3.6% compared to the same month in 2024 and 1.9% compared to May.

In the quarterly comparison, which is less volatile, production fell 1.0%, also reaching its lowest level since the first half of 2020, Destatis said in a statement.

In addition to this data, Destatis revised downwards the data for May: instead of growing 1.2% as previously estimated, German industrial production fell by 0.1%.

This significant revision occurred due to corrections made by some companies in the automotive sector, Destatis explained.

The negative evolution recorded in June was mainly due to the falls compared to the previous month in the production of machinery (-5.3%), pharmaceutical products (-11.0%) and food (-6.3%).

On the other hand, energy production increased by 3.1%, while the construction sector grew by 0.7%.

Considering production and excluding energy and construction, the decline in June was 2.8% compared to May, in data adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects.

Within industry, there were contractions in the three main groups: consumer goods (-5.6%), investment goods (-3.2%) and intermediate goods (-0.6%).