Production in September 2023:-1.4% on the previous month - German Federal Statistical Office

Press release No. 427 of 7 November 2023

Production in industry
September 2023 (in real terms, provisional):
-1.4% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-3.7% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

August 2023 (in real terms, revised):
-0.1% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-1.9% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

WIESBADEN – Production in industry in real terms (price adjusted) was down 1.4% in September 2023 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional data provided by the Federal Statistical Office ( Destatis ). Production therefore decreased for the fourth month in succession. The less volatile quarter on quarter comparison showed that production was 2.1% lower in the 3^rd quarter of 2023 than in the 2^nd quarter. After revision of the provisional results, production decreased by 0.1% in August 2023 compared with July 2023 (provisional figure: -0.2%).

Within industry, the development observed for most individual economic sectors was negative. Much of the decline was due to the development in the automotive industry (-5.0% on the previous month after seasonal and calendar adjustment). Decreases observed for the manufacture of electrical equipment (-4.4%) and in the pharmaceutical industry (-9.2%) also had a negative impact on overall performance. By contrast, production in the ‘manufacture of machinery and equipment’ sector increased and impacted the overall result positively (+4.1%).

In September 2023, production in industry excluding energy and construction was down 1.7% from August 2023 after seasonal and calendar adjustment. The production of capital goods decreased by 0.2%, the production of intermediate goods fell by 1.9% and that of consumer goods by 4.9%. Outside industry, energy production dropped by 1.7% in September 2023. Production in construction remained unchanged from the previous month.

Compared with September 2022, production in industry was down 3.7% in September 2023 after adjustment for calendar effects. Production in industry excluding energy and construction decreased by 3.3% over the same period.

Production down in energy-intensive industrial branches

Production in energy-intensive industrial branches declined by 0.4% in September 2023 from August 2023, after elimination of seasonal and calendar effects. Compared with September 2022, production in energy-intensive industrial branches was down 8.5% in September 2023. An analysis on the production index for energy-intensive industrial branches (in German only) is available on the “Industry, manufacturing“ page of the Federal Statistical Office’s website.

Methodological notes:

The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring focuses on comparisons of seasonally and calendar adjusted figures with those of the previous month or quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. Year-on-year comparisons of calendar adjusted results enable long-term comparisons of levels and are not influenced by seasonal fluctuations or calendar effects. The results of month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably because of the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine.

The rates of change are based on the production index for industry. The average figure for 2015 is used as the basis of the index and set to 100 index points (2015 = 100). The X13 JDemetra+ method was used for calendar and seasonal adjustment. The manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (Division 29 of WZ) is referred to as the “automotive industry” in this press release. The manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations (Division 21 of WZ) is referred to as the “pharmaceutical industry” in this press release.

The five branches referred to here as “energy-intensive” have particularly high energy demands in relation to their gross value added. In the reference year of 2021, they collectively accounted for 77% of total industrial energy consumption. Their proportion of industrial gross value added stood at 17%. In 2021, just under one million people (929,599) were employed in the 6,986 industrial establishments of these branches in Germany.

More information:

Basic data and long time series on the production index in industry can be found in the table Indices of production in manufacturing (42153-0001) in the GENESIS-Online database. It contains the time series of the production index for energy-intensive industrial branchesfrom 2005 onwards.

A dossier on the “Short-term indicators” page of the Federal Statistical Office's website provides an analysis of the relationship between material shortages, new orders, production and prices in industry. Detailed information on production in energy-intensive industrial branches (in German only) is available on the “Industry, manufacturing” page.

The production index is also available on Dashboard Germany at www.dashboard-deutschland.de (in German only). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, health and mobility. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool ( Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft ) (in German only) for real-time economic monitoring.

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