BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Germany's industrial production expanded for the first time in five months in April but the growth remained moderate as geopolitical tensions clouds outlook.
Industrial output increased 0.4 percent on a monthly basis, in line with expectations but in contrast to the revised 0.1 percent fall in March, data from Destatis revealed Tuesday. Moreover, this was the first growth since November.
ING economist Carsten Brzeski said the improvement is clearly too little to start discussing whether German industry is defying the economic fallout of the war in the Middle East.
Industrial production is close to stagnation rather than signaling a genuine turnaround, the economist noted.
Excluding energy and construction, industrial output remained flat compared to March but declined 2.1 percent from a year ago.
The production of intermediate goods rose 1.4 percent and that of consumer goods by 1.9 percent. On the other hand, capital goods output dropped 1.5 percent.
Outside industry, energy production rose 0.2 percent and construction output moved up 2.4 percent.
On a yearly basis, industrial production dropped 0.5 percent, following a decline of 3.4 percent in the previous month.
However, data released on Monday showed that factory orders declined 3.8 percent in April as frontloading effects diminished. Orders fell for the first time since January.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
