Press release No. 355 of 7 October 2026

Production in industry
August 2026 (in real terms, provisional):
+2.0% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+2.3% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

July 2026 (in real terms, revised):
-1.2% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-1.8% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

WIESBADEN – Production in industry in real terms (price adjusted) was up 2.0% in August 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% higher in the period from June to August 2026 than in the previous three months. Compared with August 2025, production was up 2.3% in August 2026 after adjustment for calendar effects. After revision of the provisional results, production (seasonally and calendar adjusted) decreased by 1.2% in July 2026 compared with June 2026 (provisional figure: -1.1%).

Significant increase in the construction industry, decline in the automotive industry

The growth recorded in August 2026 was mainly due to increased production in the construction industry (+9.3% on the previous month after seasonal and calendar adjustment). Within the construction industry, the area of specialised construction activities and building completion work is of particular note, with month-on-month growth of 13.1% registered here. The increase observed in the manufacture of machinery and equipment (+5.3%) also had a positive impact on the overall result. By contrast, the decrease recorded once again in the automotive industry (-5.4%) had a negative effect on overall production. According to the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), this decline is partly attributable to factory holidays, which are typical in this sector and were concentrated more in the month of August in 2026 than they were in the previous year.

In August 2026, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up 0.6% from July 2026 after seasonal and calendar adjustment. The production of capital goods rose by 1.2% and that of consumer goods by 0.6%. By contrast, the production of intermediate goods dropped by 0.2%. Outside of industry, energy production declined by 0.4%.

Compared with August 2025, production in industry excluding energy and construction was down 0.4% after calendar adjustment.

Production down in energy-intensive industrial branches

Production in energy-intensive industrial branches decreased by 0.5% in August 2026 from July 2026, after elimination of seasonal and calendar effects. The three-month on three-month comparison showed that production in energy-intensive industrial branches was 2.9% lower in the period from June to August 2026 than in the previous three months. Adjusted for calendar effects, production in energy-intensive industrial branches decreased by 2.1% in August 2026 compared with August 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.

An analysis of the relationship between material shortages, new orders, production and prices in industry and 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" (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.