A high order situation and decreasing material bottlenecks allow industrial production to increase significantly in January. After rather weak previous months, the current development is "cautiously optimistic", according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. However, it is still a long way from the pre-crisis level.
Production in manufacturing rose noticeably in January compared to December. Seasonally and calendar adjusted, according to preliminary information, it increased by 3.5 percent, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden. However, the increase is "to be seen in connection with the significant decline in production in December", the Federal Ministry of Economics restricted.
According to the information, pure industrial production, i.e. excluding energy and construction, increased by 1.9 percent in January compared to December. Accordingly, the manufacture of electronic equipment (7.1 percent) and chemical products (9.8 percent) increased significantly. The important car industry, on the other hand, produced 5.2 percent less, and mechanical engineering, which was just as important, produced 2.3 percent more.
The recently severely affected energy-intensive sectors recorded an increase of 6.8 percent, as the statisticians further reported. In addition to the chemical industry, the production of paper and cardboard also increased noticeably by 5.3 percent. However, the Federal Ministry of Economics points to strong differences between the individual branches, for example the pharmaceutical industry recorded a whopping minus of 12.9 percent. Production in the energy-intensive branches of industry was also well below the level before the crisis: Compared to the same month last year, production here fell by 13.2 percent.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, energy production outside of industry was 0.4 percent higher than in the previous month. Construction output rebounded strongly by 12.6 percent after falling 7.5 percent in December. The Federal Ministry of Economics stated that the overall development was "cautiously optimistic". "The last surveys were characterized by more favorable business prospects with decreasing material bottlenecks." Also because the order backlog is still high, "the economic slowdown at the beginning of the year is likely to be mild".
