Press release No. 252 of 7 July 2020
May 2020 (provisional): production in industry
+7.8% on the previous month (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-19.3% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
April 2020 (revised) production in industry
-17.5% on the previous month (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-25.0% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – In May 2020, production in industry was up by 7.8% on the previous month on a price, seasonally and calendar adjusted basis according to provisional data of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Compared with May 2019, the decrease in calendar adjusted production in industry amounted to 19.3%.
In May 2020, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up by 10.3%. Within industry, the production of intermediate goods showed a decrease by 0.1%. The production of consumer goods increased by 1.4% and the production of capital goods by 27.6%. Outside industry, energy production was up by 1.7% in May 2020 and the production in construction increased by 0.5%.
The production in the automotive industry increased markedly in May 2020, after a very low level in April 2020. However, it was still by just under 50% lower than in February 2020.
In April 2020, the corrected figure shows the production in industry a decrease of 17.5% from (primary -17.9%) from March 2020.
European data on industrial production
Results on industrial production in other EU countries are contained in the Eurostat’s database. Germany is among the first countries to provide Eurostat with these monthly data.
At present, data up to and including April are available for most of the countries. According to these data, industrial production in the EU was down by 27.2% in April 2020 compared with a year earlier. The largest decreases were recorded for Luxemburg, Italy and Slovakia (see Eurostat press release of 12 June 2020)
The rates of change refer to the production index for industry (2015 = 100). Seasonal and calendar adjustment was made using the X-13 JDemetra+ method.
Basic data and long time series on the production index in industry are also available through the table "Index of production in manufacturing" (42153-0001) in the GENESIS-Online database.
Methodological notes:
The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring usually focuses on comparisons with the previous month or previous quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. A comparison with the previous month/previous quarter can only be meaningfully interpreted if the data have been seasonally adjusted. A comparison with the previous year is intended to offer a long-term comparison of levels and is not subject to seasonal fluctuations. During the current coronavirus crisis, the strong decreases especially in March/April 2020 and the slowly emerging recovery have produced highly different results for the comparison with the previous month/previous quarter and the comparison with the previous year. Both of the two perspectives are important: what is the short-term economic trend compared with the previous month/previous quarter, and how far has the catching-up process gone compared with the previous year’s level? In order to provide also a direct comparison with the pre-crisis level, all press releases on short-term indicators available in seasonally adjusted form will from now on include a comparison with February 2020 or the 4th quarter of 2019.
Crisis Monitor allows comparison between corona crisis and and financial and economic crisis
The production index is also part of the „Crisis Monitor“ (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor), which is used by the Federal Statistical Office to compare the development of major short-term indicators between the corona crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The “Crisis Monitor” complements the “Corona statistics“ webpage, which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic since early April.
German EU Council Presidency
As of 1 July, the Federal Statistical Office will organise the meetings of the Council Working Party on Statistics to be held during Germany’s EU Council Presidency under the chairmanship of its President Dr. Georg Thiel. Information on our activities during the Presidency of the Council of the EU is provided at destatis.de/eu2020. European statistics are available under „ Europe in figures“ on our website at www.destatis.de.
