German industrial production rises less than expected in April

German industrial production rose less than expected in April, according to data released by Destatis on Wednesday.

Orders rose 0.3% on the month following a 2.1% decline in March, and versus expectations for a 0.6% increase. March’s fall was revised down from 3.4%.

On the year, industrial orders were up 1.6% in April following a 2.3% increase the month before.

Production in industry excluding energy and construction was up 0.1% on the month, while production of consumer goods rose 1.5% in April. However, the production of capital goods fell by 0.3% and of intermediate goods by 0.2%. The figures also showed that energy production declined 1.5% on the month.

Compared with April 2022, production in industry was 1.6% higher. Production in industry excluding energy and construction rose 2.7%.

Andrew Kenningham, chief Europe economist at Capital Economics, said: "Prospects for the rest of the year look poor. The boost that German industry got from easing global supply problems and lower gas prices at the beginning of this year seems to be exhausted already and output is likely to be increasingly constrained by weak demand as the backlog of work dwindles and new orders fall.

"We suspect that, after GDP contracting by 0.5% and 0.3% q/q over the past two quarters, the German economy will remain in recession over the rest of the year."