Press release No. 124 of 9 April 2026
Production in industry
February 2026 (in real terms, provisional):
-0.3% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
0.0% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
January 2026 (in real terms, revised):
0.0% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-0.9% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – Production in industry in real terms (price adjusted) was down 0.3% in February 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 0.4% lower in the period from December 2025 to February 2026 than in the previous three months. After revision of the provisional data, production in January 2026 remained at the level of the previous month (0.0%; provisional figure: -0.5%). Compared with February 2025, production in February 2026 was unchanged (0.0%) after calendar adjustment.
Production down in the construction industry and up in the automotive industry
The month-on-month decrease in February 2026 is due to the drop in output registered in the construction industry (-1.2%), in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (-3.9%) and in the pharmaceutical industry (-4.4%). By contrast, production growth in the automotive industry (+1.7%) had a positive impact on the result.
In February 2026, production in industry excluding energy and construction was down 0.1% from January 2026 after seasonal and calendar adjustment. The production of consumer goods declined by 1.5%. By contrast, the production of intermediate goods rose by 0.4% and the production of capital goods was up 0.1%. Outside industry, energy production increased by 0.3%.
Compared with February 2025, production in industry excluding energy and construction was down 0.6% after calendar adjustment.
Production up in energy-intensive industrial branches
Production in energy-intensive industrial branches increased by 1.9% in February 2026 from January 2026, after adjustment for seasonal and calendar effects. The three-month on three-month comparison showed that production in energy-intensive industrial branches in the period from December 2025 to February 2026 remained at the level of the previous three months (0.0%). Adjusted for calendar effects, production in energy-intensive industrial branches was up 0.1% in February 2026 compared with February 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. In reporting month January 2026, the new version of the Product Classification, 2026 edition (GP 2026) (only in German), replaced the 2019 edition (GP 2019), which had applied until then. The Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008), which is used for the presentation of results, did not change as a result of the changeover to the new GP version; 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 GP version only affects the internal allocation of produced goods 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 is also available on the "Economic Dashboard" (www.dashboard-konjunktur.de) (only in German). In this data portal, the Federal Statistical Office brings together high-frequency indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, the labour market, construction and energy.
