Press release No. 141 of 8 April 2024
Production in industry
February 2024 (in real terms, provisional):
+2.1% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-4.9% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
January 2024 (in real terms, revised):
+1.3% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-5.3% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – Production in industry in real terms (price adjusted) was up 2.1% in February 2024 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 0.5% lower in the period from December 2023 to February 2024 than in the previous three months. After revision of the provisional results, production increased by 1.3% in January 2024 compared with December 2023 (provisional figure: +1.0%). Compared with February 2023, production in February 2024 was 4.9% lower after adjustment for calendar effects.
The month-on-month increase in production in industry in February 2024 is largely due to the performance of the construction industry (+7.9% after seasonal and calendar adjustment). By contrast, the drop in production in the energy production sector (-6.5%) had a clearly negative impact on overall performance.
In February 2024, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up 1.9% from January 2024 after seasonal and calendar adjustment. This growth is largely attributable to the increase in production registered in the automotive industry (+5.7%) and the chemical industry (+4.6%). Overall, within industry the production of intermediate goods increased by 2.5%, the production of capital goods was up 1.5% and the production of consumer goods rose by 1.9%. Compared with February 2023, production in industry excluding energy and construction in February 2024 was down 5.5% after calendar adjustment.
Production up in energy-intensive industrial branches
Production in energy-intensive industrial branches increased by 4.2% in February 2024 from January 2024, after elimination of seasonal and calendar effects. The three-month on three-month comparison showed that production in these industrial branches was 0.2% higher in the period from December 2023 to February 2024 than in the previous three months. Compared with February 2023, production in energy-intensive industrial branches was up 0.9% in February 2024 after calendar adjustment. 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 results of month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably due to the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine.
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 manufacture of chemicals and chemical products (Division 20 of WZ) is referred to as the “chemical industry” in this press release. The manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (Division 29 of WZ) is referred to as the “automotive industry” in this press release.
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, just under one million people (929,599) were employed in the 6,986 industrial establishments of these branches in Germany.
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" 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 Dashboard Germany at www.dashboard-deutschland.de (only in German). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, health and mobility. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.
