Germany's industrial production continued to shrink in August for the fourth month in a row, the federal statistics office said on Monday, an indication that the sector remains under serious pressure.
Industrial production fell slightly more than expected in August by 0.2% when compared to the previous month. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 0.1% decline.
The statistics office revised July production data to a 0.6% decline month-over-month, compared with a provisional figure of a 0.8% drop.
The less-volatile three-month-over-three-month comparison showed that production was 1.9% lower from June to August 2023 than in the previous three months, the statistics office data showed.
A 2.4% drop in production in construction on the previous month, a 6.6% decline in energy production and a 2.3% fall in the manufacture of machinery and equipment hurt overall performance in August, the data showed.
By contrast, production growth in the automotive industry had a positive impact, where output increased by 7.6%.
Industrial orders rose by 3.9% in August due to a boost in computing, electronic and optical products, but the outlook for the sector remains challenging, Destatis said.
Germany's manufacturing sector, which accounts for about a fifth of its economy, remains mired in a downturn.
The HCOB final Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing stood at 39.6 in September, far below the 50 level separating growth from contraction.
