BERLIN: German industrial output unexpectedly fell in August, the economy ministry said Wednesday, as Europe's top export power feels the pinch of slowing growth in China and other emerging markets.
The ministry calculated that factory output fell 1.2 percent compared with a month earlier, corrected for seasonal factors and inflation.
The decline was a much steeper than a 0.1 percent fall predicted by financial services firm FactSet.
The data was released a day after news that German industrial orders, a key measure of demand for goods, had slumped 1.8 percent in August, the second monthly fall in a row.
Weakness in domestic demand as well as from outside the eurozone had contributed to the slump, according to the preliminary data released by the federal statistics office Destatis.
Manufacturing output dropped 1.1 percent month-on-month in August, which the ministry blamed in part of the timing of some state school holidays, and construction and energy output also fell.
The data did not yet factor in the possible repercussions of the Volkswagen scandal sparked by news in September the auto giant has cheated on emissions tests in 11 million diesel vehicles.
Comments
Comments are closed.