German industrial production beats expectations in November
German industrial production rose more than expected in November, according to figures released by Destatis on Thursday.
Production was up 1.1% on the previous month compared to a revised 1% fall in October, beating expectations for a 0.7% jump.
On the year, industrial production fell 2.6% in November, although this was an improvement on the revised 4.6% fall seen in October and ahead of expectations for a 3.8% decline.
Production in industry excluding energy and construction was up 1%. Within industry, the production of capital goods increased 2.4% and the production of consumer goods was 0.5% higher. The production of intermediate goods fell 0.5%.
Outside industry, energy production declined 0.8% in November, while construction production rose 2.6%.
Other figures published by Destatis on Thursday showed that exports fell 2.3% on the month in November and imports ticked down 0.5%, taking the trade surplus to €18.3bn.
Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the industrial production data "look great overall, but yesterday’s new orders data and still-grim surveys suggest that the pace wasn’t sustained at the end of the quarter".
"The key point, however, is that base effects are now turning for the better after a very long stretch of sustained declines in headline output. We think that production fell by 3.5% year-over-year in December, consistent with a 0.1% month-on-month drop, but a significant ‘rebound’ in the quarter-on-quarter rate through Q4, to -0.5% from -1.2% in Q3.
"This appearance of a rebound, thanks to base effects, likely will extend into Q1, lifting GDP growth, holding other things equal."