Press release No. 075 of 9 March 2026

Production in industry
January 2026 (in real terms, provisional):
-0.5% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-1.2% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

December 2025 (in real terms, revised):
-1.0% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+0.4% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

WIESBADEN – Production in industry in real terms (price adjusted) was down 0.5% in January 2026 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional data provided by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that production was 0.9% higher in the period from November 2025 to January 2026 than in the previous three months. After revision of the provisional results, production decreased by 1.0% in December 2025 compared with November 2025 (provisional figure: -1.9%). Compared with January 2025, production was down 1.2% in January 2026 after adjustment for calendar effects.

Decline in the manufacture of fabricated metal products

The month-on-month decrease registered in January 2026 is largely due to the lower production in the “manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment” sector (-12.4%). The drop in output witnessed in the pharmaceutical industry (-11.9%) and in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (-6.8%) also negatively impacted the overall result. By contrast, the increase recorded in energy production (+10.3%) had a positive effect. The considerable growth observed in this sector may be attributable to the exceptionally low temperatures in January 2026. On the other hand, the high number of days of ice and frost may have had a negative effect on production in civil engineering (construction of roads, railways, bridges and tunnels, for example). Production in civil engineering dropped by 7.5% in January 2026, while production in construction increased by 2.9% overall.

In January 2026, production in industry excluding energy and construction was down 2.5% from December 2025 after seasonal and calendar adjustment. The production of consumer goods declined by 4.2%, the production of intermediate goods decreased by 2.6% and the production of capital goods was down 1.6%.

Compared with January 2025, production in industry excluding energy and construction decreased by 2.6% after calendar adjustment.

Production down in energy-intensive industrial branches

Production in energy-intensive industrial branches dropped by 0.8% in January 2026 from December 2025, after adjustment for seasonal and calendar effects. The three-month on three-month comparison showed that production in energy-intensive industrial branches was 1.8% lower in the period from November 2025 to January 2026 than in the previous three months. Adjusted for calendar effects, production in energy-intensive industrial branches decreased by 4.3% in January 2026 compared with January 2025. An analysis on 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.

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 of seasonally and calendar adjusted figures with those of the previous month or quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. Year-on-year comparisons of calendar adjusted results enable long-term comparisons of levels and are not influenced by seasonal fluctuations or calendar effects.

The rates of change are based on the production index for industry. The average figure for 2021 is used as the basis of the index and set to 100 index points (2021 = 100). The X13 JDemetra+ method was used for calendar and seasonal adjustment.

The structure of the Product Classification for Production Statistics (GP) forms the basis for collecting the data underlying the production index. As of reporting month January 2026, the new version of the Product Classification, 2026 edition (GP 2026) (only in German), replaces the 2019 edition (GP 2019) applicable until then. The Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008), which is used for the presentation of results, has not been modified on account of the changeover to the new version of the GP; therefore, the breakdown by economic activity remains the same. Results at a higher aggregation level that are presented in this press release (2-digit items of the WZ and aggregates) also remain unchanged. The changeover to the new version of the GP only affects the internal allocation of goods produced to the 4-digit items of the Classification of Economic Activities. 

The five branches referred to here as "energy-intensive" have particularly high energy demands in relation to their gross value added. In the reference year of 2021, they collectively accounted for 77% of total industrial energy consumption. Their proportion of industrial gross value added stood at 17%. In 2021, approximately 930,000 people were employed in roughly 7,000 industrial establishments of these branches in Germany.

For better readability, this press release uses a short form for the names of some economic branches which differs from the designations in the "Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008)". An overview of these short forms (only in German) is provided on the "Industry, manufacturing" page on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.

More information:

Basic data and long time series on the production index in industry can be found in the table Indices of production in manufacturing (42153-0001) in the GENESIS-Online database. It contains the time series of the production index for energy-intensive industrial branches from 2005 onwards.

A dossier on the "Short-term indicators" (only in German) page of the Federal Statistical Office's website provides an analysis of the relationship between material shortages, new orders, production and prices in industry. Detailed information on production in energy-intensive industrial branches (only in German) is available on the "Industry, manufacturing" page.

The production index can also be found on the Economic Dashboard, which is part of Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in German). In this data portal, the Federal Statistical Office brings together up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, the labour market, construction, housing, energy and Ukraine. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.