Germany’s industrial production declined more than expected in December, while exports bounced back on rising shipments to the US and China, official data revealed Friday.
Industrial output decreased 1.9 percent month-on-month in December, reversing a 0.2 percent rise in November, Destatis reported.
This was much bigger than the expected fall of 0.2 percent and also marked the first decline in four months.
On an annual basis, industrial production dropped 0.6 percent, in contrast to the 0.5 percent increase in November.
Excluding energy and construction, industrial production fell 3.0 percent in December compared to November.
Consumer goods production grew 0.5 percent, while production of capital and intermediate goods fell 5.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
Energy production was down 1.8 percent. On the other hand, construction output increased 3.0 percent.
In the full year 2025, production in the manufacturing sector was 1.1 percent lower than in the previous year, data showed.
Another report showed that exports logged a monthly growth of 4.0 percent in December after falling 2.5 percent in November. Shipments were expected to rise 1.0 percent.
At the same time, the increase in imports doubled to 1.4 percent from 0.7 percent in November. Economists had forecast imports to climb 0.2 percent.
As a result, the trade surplus rose to EUR 17.1 billion from EUR 13.6 billion in November.
Year-on-year, exports advanced 6.0 percent and imports surged 8.4 percent in December.
Data showed that exports to the United States rose 8.9 percent from November and that to China advanced 10.7 percent. Meanwhile, imports from the US grew only 3.0 percent and demand from China climbed 4.1 percent.
“German industrial production disappointed at the end of the year, but this is only a temporary halt, not a new downward trend,” ING economist Carsten Brzeski said.
An industrial upswing is clearly in the making, he added. However, the economist observed that industrial upswing should detract from the fact that the economy‘s problems are deeply rooted, often structural and largely self-made, except for the China problem.
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