Wiesbaden May 8 2023: In March 2023, German production in industry in real terms was down by 3.4% on the previous month on a price, according to provisional data provided by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
This decrease follows an increase of production in industry by 2.1% in February 2023 (provisional figure: 2.0%). Considering the 1st quarter of the year 2023, production was 2.5% higher compared with the 4th quarter of the previous year.
A particularly large contribution to the decrease in production in industry was due to the automotive industry. After an increase of 6.9% in February 2023, the manufacture of motor vehicles and parts thereof fell by 6.5% seasonally and calendar adjusted on the previous month. Decreases in the manufacture of machinery and equipment (-3.4%) and the production in construction (-4.6%) also accounted for a large share of the significant decrease in total production.
In March 2023, production in industry excluding energy and construction was down by 3.3% compared with February 2023 in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms. The production of capital goods decreased by 4.4%, the production of intermediate goods by 3.5% and the production of consumer goods by 0.1% in March 2023 compared with the previous month. Whereas, energy production rose by 0.8% compared with the previous month. As mentioned above, production in construction fell by 4.6%.
Compared with March 2022, calendar adjusted production in industry in March 2023 was 1.8% higher. Calendar adjusted production in industry excluding energy and construction increased by 3.6% compared with March 2022.
Decrease in production in energy-intensive industrial branches
In March 2023, production in the energy-intensive industrial branches was down by 3.3% compared to February 2023. Production in energy-intensive industrial branches in March 2023 was 12.9% lower than in March 2022, when the effects of rising energy prices following the war in Ukraine were still relatively low. An analysis of the Production index for energy-intensive industrial branches (only in German) is available on the “Industry, manufacturing” page of the Federal Statistical Office’s website.
