German industrial production stagnates in May
Industrial production in Germany stalled in May on the back of falls in energy and construction output, data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed on Tuesday.
On a price-, seasonally- and working day-adjusted basis, production in Europe’s largest economy was unchanged from the previous month.
The consensus forecast was for growth of 0.1%.
Meanwhile, April’s initially-estimated 0.9% growth was revised down to +0.6%.
The year-on-year growth rate picked up to 2.1% in May from 1.1% in April, but missed the 2.6% increase predicted by analysts.
Energy production in May was 3.1% lower than the previous month, while construction output slipped 0.5%.
Excluding energy and construction, production would have been up 0.4% in May, as the output of capital goods rose 0.4% and the production of consumer goods expanded 1.3%.
Analyst Dominc Bryant from BNP Paribas said Tuesday’s figures were “disappointing”, though orders data suggests “some scope for a pick-up in June”.
“While production data do not point to much of an improvement in GDP growth through Q2, expenditure side indicators, such as monthly exports and retail sales have been robust. We continue to expect the economy to expand by around 0.6% q/q in Q2,” he said.