Germany industrial production falls in September, beats market consensus

Industrial production in Germany fell during the month of September, beating market expectations and posting its steepest monthly drop in more than two years. This signaled that Europe’s biggest economy ended the third quarter on a weak footing.

Germany’s industrial production declined at a faster-than-expected pace in September, after rebounding in the previous month, data released by statistics agency Destatis showed Tuesday.

Industrial production fell a seasonally and working-day-adjusted 1.8 percent month-over-month in September, reversing a 3.0 percent climb in August, which was revised up from a 2.5 percent rise reported earlier. That was well above the 0.2 percent slight drop expected by economists.

Excluding energy, industrial output contracted 1.7 percent in September from a month ago. Within the industry, the production of capital goods dipped by 2.4 percent and those of consumer goods slid by 1.9 percent. Energy production alone decreased 3.1 percent over the month.

Meanwhile, for the third quarter as a whole, industrial output edged up 0.3 percent on the quarter, driven by a 0.9 percent increase in construction, the ministry added.