Trade wars gnaw on German industry and exports
German industrial production was further ground down in December as the US-China trade conflict dragged on, official data showed Friday, while the country’s prized trade surplus also ticked down over 2019 as a whole.
Output at maker firms fell 3.5 percent month-on-month, statistics authority Destatis said in seasonally adjusted data, and was down 6.8 percent on the year.
Production was lower across all manufacturing sectors, with producer goods, consumer goods and capital good firms falling back.
Meanwhile there was also a sharp fall of 8.7 percent in the construction sector, which had been one of the few bright spots.
“Recent tentative progress in production and incoming orders points to weak growth not yet being overcome,” the economy ministry in Berlin said in a statement.
Comments