Press release No. 440 of 6 November 2020
Production in industry
September 2020 (provisional):
+1.6% on the previous month (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-7.3% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
August 2020 (revised):
+0.5% on the previous month (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-8.7% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – In September 2020, production in industry was up by 1.6% on the previous month on a price, seasonally and calendar adjusted basis according to provisional data of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with September 2019, the decrease in calendar adjusted production in industry amounted to 7.3%.
The corona crisis has affected the development in manufacturing for several months now. Compared with February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the corona pandemic in Germany, production in September 2020 were 8.4 % lower in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms.
In September 2020, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up by 2.0%. Within industry, the production of intermediate goods showed an increase by 1.4%. The production of consumer goods increased by 3.0% and the production of capital goods by 2.2%. Outside industry, energy production was down by 2.5% in September 2020 and the production in construction increased by 1.5%.
Production in the automotive industry - the largest branch of manufacturing - rise by 10.0% on the previous month in September, following a decrease of 10.3% in August. This means that it was by just under 15% below the level of February 2020.
In August 2020, the corrected figure on the production in industry shows an increase of 0.5% (primary-0.2%) from July 2020.
European data on industrial production
Results on industrial production in other EU countries are contained in the Eurostat’s database..
At present, data up to and including August are available for most of the countries. According to these data, industrial production in the EU increased by 1.0 % in August 2020 compared with the previous month. The strongest increases were reported for Portugal, Italy, Hungary and Sweden (see Eurostat press release of 14 October 2020).
The rates of change refer to the production index for industry (2015 = 100). Seasonal and calendar adjustment was made using the X-13 JDemetra+ method.
Basic data and long time series on the production index in industry are also available through the table "Index of production in manufacturing" (42153-0001) in the GENESIS-Online database.
Methodological notes:
The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring focuses on comparisons with the previous month or previous quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. A comparison with the previous year is intended to offer a long-term comparison of levels and is not subject to seasonal fluctuations. During the current coronavirus crisis, the strong decreases especially in March/April 2020 and the slowly emerging recovery have produced highly different results for the comparison with the previous month/previous quarter and the comparison with the previous year. Both of the two perspectives are important: what is the short-term economic development compared with the previous month/previous quarter and how far has the catching-up process gone compared with the previous year’s level? In order to provide also a direct comparison with the pre-crisis level, all press releases on short-term indicators available in seasonally adjusted form will from now on include a comparison with February 2020 or the 4th quarter of 2019.
Crisis Monitor allows comparison between corona crisis and and financial and economic crisis
The production index is also part of the „Crisis Monitor“ (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor), which is used by the Federal Statistical Office to compare the development of major short-term indicators between the corona crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The “Crisis Monitor” complements the “Corona statistics“ webpage, which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic since early April.
German EU--European Union Council Presidency
As of 1 July. the Federal Statistical Office has been responsible for organising will organise the meetings of the Council Working Party on Statistics to be held during Germany’s EU Council Presidency under the chairmanship of its President Dr. Georg Thiel. Information on our activities during the Presidency of the Council of the Germany’s EU is provided at destatis.de/eu2020. European statistics are available under „ Europe in figures“ on our website at www.destatis.de
