German industrial production falls again in August

(Sharecast News) - German industrial production fell in August for the fourth month in a row, according to data released on Monday by Destatis. Factory orders declined by 0.2% on the month following a 0.6% fall in July, and versus expectations for a 0.1% dip.

On the year, orders fell 2% in August following a 1.7% decline the month before.

Destatis attributed most of the weakness to a 2.4% month-on-month drop in construction production and a 6.6% fall in energy production. Production excluding energy and construction was up 0.5% from July.

Franziska Palmas, senior Europe economist at Capital Economics, said: "The outlook for German industry is poor. Surveys of manufacturing activity are consistent with a contraction in output in September and although industrial orders rose by 3.9% m/m in August, that came after an 11.3% drop in July and left them very low by past standards.

"We continue to expect high interest rates and falling demand to lead to a further contraction in German industrial output in the coming months. This is one of the reasons why we are anticipating German GDP to contract in both Q3 and Q4 this year."