July 2023 (in real terms, revised):
-0.6% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-1.7% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

Production in industry in real terms (price adjusted) was down 0.2% in August 2023 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional data provided by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that production was 1.9% lower in the period from June to August 2023 than in the previous three months. After revision of the provisional data, production in July 2023 decreased by 0.6% compared with the previous month (provisional figure: -0.8%).

Different developments can be observed in the economic sectors of industry. A drop in production in construction (-2.4% on the previous month, seasonally and calendar adjusted) and in energy production (-6.6%) had a negative impact on overall performance in August 2023. The decline observed in the manufacture of machinery and equipment by 2.3% was also an important contributor to the overall result. By contrast, the growth in production in the automotive industry (+7.6%) had a positive impact on overall performance. This follows a decline of 9.4% in this sector in July 2023.

In August 2023, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up 0.5% from July 2023 after seasonal and calendar adjustment. The production of capital goods rose by 1.3% and that of intermediate goods by 0.5%. The production of consumer goods declined by 1.4%.

Compared with August 2022, production in industry was down 2.0% in August 2023 after adjustment for calendar effects. Production in industry excluding energy and construction decreased by 0.7% over the same period.

Source: DESTAIS
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Exports to third countries (original values, exports of goods), April 2023
51.5 billion euros
-5.2% on the same month a year earlier

On a calendar and seasonally adjusted basis, German exports to countries outside the European Union (third countries) declined by 5.7% in April 2023 compared with March 2023. According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), Germany exported goods to the value of 56.5 billion euros in April 2023, after calendar and seasonal adjustment.

Source: DESTATIS
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February 2023 (in real terms, revised)
+2.1% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+0.7% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

In March 2023, production in industry in real terms was down by 3.4% on the previous month on a price, seasonally and calendar adjusted basis, according to provisional data provided by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). This decrease follows an increase of production in industry by 2.1% in February 2023 (provisional figure: 2.0%). Considering the 1^st quarter of the year 2023, production was 2.5% higher compared with the 4^th quarter of the previous year.

A particularly large contribution to the decrease in production in industry was due to the automotive industry. After an increase of 6.9% in February 2023, the manufacture of motor vehicles and parts thereof fell by 6.5% seasonally and calendar adjusted on the previous month. Decreases in the manufacture of machinery and equipment (-3.4%) and the production in construction (-4.6%) also accounted for a large share of the significant decrease in total production.

In March 2023, production in industry excluding energy and construction was down by 3.3% compared with February 2023 in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms. The production of capital goods decreased by 4.4%, the production of intermediate goods by 3.5% and the production of consumer goods by 0.1% in March 2023 compared with the previous month. Whereas, energy production rose by 0.8% compared with the previous month. As mentioned above, production in construction fell by 4.6%.

Compared with March 2022, calendar adjusted production in industry in March 2023 was 1.8% higher. Calendar adjusted production in industry excluding energy and construction increased by 3.6% compared with March 2022.

Decrease in production in energy-intensive industrial branches

In March 2023, production in the energy-intensive industrial branches was down by 3.3% compared to February 2023. Production in energy-intensive industrial branches in March 2023 was 12.9% lower than in March 2022, when the effects of rising energy prices following the war in Ukraine were still relatively low.

Source: DESTATIS
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As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) referring to preliminary results, the index of producer prices for industrial products increased by 7.5% compared to March 2022. In February 2023 the increase had been +15.8%. Compared with the preceding month February 2023 the overall index decreased by 2.6% in March 2023, which means a decrease for the sixth month in a row.

The results of the survey on producer prices are preliminary with regard to the overall index, the main industrial group energy and the indices on electricity and natural gas (distribution). The reason is the price brake on electricity and natural gas which is valid from January 2023 has to be realised only starting in March 2023. As not all reporting units on electricity and natural gas prices could report prices taking into account the price brake the March results remain also preliminary. Hence the revision of the figures has to be postponed to the publication of the results of April.

Mainly responsible for the increase of producer prices compared to March 2022 still was the price increase of energy, due to the high weighting percentage combined with exceptionally high changes. Moreover, prices also rose significantly, in parts due to the price development for energy products, for non-durable consumer goods, intermediate goods, durable consumer goods and capital goods.

Also for the decrease of producer prices on a monthly basis the development of energy prices is the main reason.

Further increase of energy prices in comparison with March 2022, but month-on-month decrease

Energy prices as a whole were up 6.8% compared to March 2022. These prices had strongly increased already in March 2022. Together with the price decrease of the latest months this leads to only a comparatively moderate increase compared to the previous year in March 2023. Mainly responsible for the rise of energy prices still were the price increases of natural gas (distribution).

Natural gas prices (distribution) were up 19.1% on March 2022. Electricity prices across all customer groups left unchanged compared to March 2022.

Prices of mineral oil products were down 18.4% from March 2022 and decreased by 2.3% from February 2023. In March 2022 prices of mineral oil products had increased by 25.8% within a month due to the outbreak of war in Ukraine. In March 2023 light heating oil prices decreased by 33.6% compared to March 2022 (–4.4% on February 2023), those of motor fuels were down 19.4% (–1.7% on February 2023).

The overall index disregarding energy was 7.9% up on March 2022 (+0.2% compared to February 2023).

Growth in prices of non-durable consumer goods mainly due to increasing food prices

Prices of non-durable consumer goods increased by 15.4% compared to March 2022 and rose by 0.7% compared to February 2023. From March 2022 to March 2023 food prices increased by 19.2%. Especially high was the price increase of sugar (+89.2% compared to March 2022). Prices of processed and preserved potatoes rose by 46.6%, of meat of swine by 33.4% compared to March 2022. Margarine and similar edible fats prices were up 29.3%.

Cheaper than a year before were butter (–11.6%) and crude vegetable oils (–31.0%).

Prices of durable consumer goods increased by 10.0% compared to March 2022, mainly caused by the price development of furniture (+11.7%).

Capital goods’ prices rose by 7.5% (+0.2% compared to February 2023). The highest impact on the price development of capital goods compared to the previous year had the increase of machine prices, which were up 9.4%, followed by vehicles’ price development by +5.9%.

Price increase for intermediate goods especially due to prices for glass, ceramics and processed stones

Prices of intermediate goods increased by 4.7% compared to March 2022. Compared to February 2023 these prices fell slightly by 0.1 %. The price increase compared to March 2022 was largely attributable to the price development of glass, ceramics and processed stones which was up 24.1%.

Especially high was the price increase of cement (+52.3% on March 2022). Wood chips prices increased by 30.7% from March 2022 (-4.6% on February 2023). Prices of household and sanitary goods and toilet requisites were up 27.8%.

Cheaper than a year before were metal prices (-3.6%). Compared to February 2023 these prices fell by 1.0%. Prices of metallic steel and ferro-alloys decreased by 9.3% compared to March 2022. Prices of concrete reinforcing bars in bars or coils even fell by 24.5%.

Significantly down compared to March 2022 were the prices of non-metallic secondary raw materials (–43.7%).

Source: DESTATIS
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The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment plummeted substantially in April, from 13.0 in March to 4.1 in April. The score was expected to rise to 15.3.

The score indicated that there will be no major improvement in the economy during the next six months.

Meanwhile, the present situation index increased from -46.5 in March to -32.5 in April. The reading was expected to rise to -40.0.

“Despite the improvement, the economic situation is still considered relatively negative,” according to the Mannheim-based think group.

Source: RTT NEWS
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Harmonised index of consumer prices, March 2023
+7.8% on the same month a year earlier (provisional result confirmed)
+1.1% on the previous month (provisional result confirmed)

The inflation rate in Germany, measured as the year-on-year change in the consumer price index (CPI), stood at +7.4% in March 2023. In both January and February 2023, the inflation rate had been +8.7%. “The rate of inflation has slowed but remains at a high level”, says Ruth Brand, President of the Federal Statistical Office. She adds: “Households felt especially the impact of yet another rise in food prices in March.” The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that consumer prices in March 2023 were up 0.8% on February 2023.

Prices of energy products up 3.5% year on year

Energy product prices were 3.5% higher in March 2023 than a year earlier. The increase in energy product prices thus slowed considerably, remaining below the inflation rate. It stood at +19.1% in February and +23.1% in January. Due to the previous year’s strong rise in energy prices, the figure for March 2023 was however subject to a base effect. Motor fuels cost considerably less (-16.1%) than a year earlier. Energy prices are subject also to the electricity, natural gas and district heating price brakes taking effect retrospectively from January 2023. The overall development of energy prices is however influenced by many factors, especially international purchase prices.

A particularly large increase was again recorded for household energy prices from March 2022 to March 2023 (+21.9%). There were price rises of 39.5% for natural gas, 17.1% for electricity and 16.4% for district heating. Above-average price increases of other household energy products also continued, with prices of firewood, wood pellets and other solid fuels up 39.4%, for example. Heating oil prices, in contrast, decreased substantially by 35.7%.

22.3% increase in food prices year on year

Food prices were up 22.3% in March 2023 compared with the same month a year earlier. The rise in food prices thus accelerated even more (February 2023: +21.8%; January 2023: +20.2%) and meanwhile stands at three times the overall inflation rate. As in the preceding months, higher prices were recorded for all food groups in March 2023. There were substantial price rises especially for dairy products and eggs (+34.6%). There were considerable year-on-year price increases also for vegetables (+27.3%), bread and cereals (+23.8%) as well as fish products and seafood (+22.2%). Very high price rises were observed for some foodstuffs. Consumers had to pay 70.9% more for sugar than in the same month of the previous year, for instance.

Inflation rate excluding energy and food at +5.8%

The rate of inflation excluding energy stood at +7.8% in March 2023 and thus was higher than the overall rate of inflation, which means that energy prices currently even have a slight downward effect on inflation. To what extent food prices currently affect overall inflation is revealed when energy and food are excluded. The resulting rate was markedly lower (+5.8%). Furthermore, the inflation rate excluding energy and food shows that inflation is high also for other product groups. The rate had been above the five-percent threshold in December 2022 already and increased slightly again after standing at +5.6% in January 2023 and +5.7% in February 2023.

Prices of goods up 9.8% on March 2022

The prices of goods (total) were up 9.8% in March 2023 compared with the same month a year earlier. The price increase was particularly large for non-durable consumer goods (+11.9%), which was mostly due to the rise in food prices. Considerably higher prices had to be paid also for non-durable consumer goods for personal care (+14.6%), beer (+13.6%) and non-alcoholic beverages (+13.2%). Prices of durable consumer goods were up 6.2% on the same month of the previous year. Substantial price increases were observed especially for furniture and lighting equipment (+10.3%) as well as new cars (+7.5%).

Service prices up 4.8% year on year

The prices of services (total) were up 4.8% in March 2023 on the same month of the previous year. Net rents exclusive of heating expenses rose 2.1%. Above-average price increases were observed for some services such as maintenance and repair of dwellings (+16.6%), catering services in restaurants, cafes and the like (+10.8%) and services of social facilities (+9.8%). Prices were down year on year only for a very small number of services, for instance, telecommunications services (-0.9%).

Prices up 0.8% month on month, with food prices increasing 1.3%

Compared with February 2023, the consumer price index rose by 0.8% in March 2023. Considerable seasonal price increases were observed especially for package holidays (+9.2%), air tickets (+8.5%) and clothing (+5.1%). Households also had to pay more for food in general than in the preceding month (+1.3%), especially for vegetables (+6.5%). Again there was a striking drop in the prices of edible fats and oils (-3.1%), especially of butter (-7.0%), from a month earlier. Energy prices (total) remained unchanged. Some energy products saw price increases nevertheless; the prices of district heating (+1.2%) and natural gas (+0.7%) went up in spite of the price brakes. Along with these price increases, some decreases were observed, among others, for heating oil (-2.3%) and electricity (-0.6%). Motor fuel prices (total) remained nearly unchanged (-0.1%, including supergrade petrol: +0.3%, diesel fuel: -1.6%).

Source: DESTATIS
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January 2023 (in real terms, revised)
+3.7% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-1.6% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

In February 2023, production in industry in real terms was up by 2.0% on the previous month on a price, seasonally and calendar adjusted basis, according to provisional data provided by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Revision of the provisional data showed an increase of 3.7% (provisional figure: +3.5%) in January 2023 compared with the previous month. Therefore, the adjusted index of production since December 2022 rose by 5.8%, which more than compensated the significant decline in December 2022 (-2.4%). Compared with February 2022, calendar adjusted production in February 2023 was 0.6% higher.

Most of the economic sectors demonstrated a positive development in production in February 2023. The manufacture of motor vehicles and parts thereof, Germany’s largest industrial sector, accounted for a particularly large share of the significant increase in total production (seasonally and calendar adjusted +7.6% on the previous month). Large parts of the construction industry, which increased its production by 1.5%, also shaped the positive result.

In February 2023, production in industry excluding energy and construction was up by 2.4% in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms, compared with January 2023. Compared with February 2022, calendar adjusted production in industry increased by 1.7%.

Looking at the industry as a whole, there was an increase across all major groups of the economy: the production of capital goods increased by 3.4%, the production of intermediate goods by 1.8% and the production of consumer goods by 1.4% in February 2023 compared with the previous month.

In contrast to industry and construction, energy production did not increase its output in February 2023. It fell by 1.1% compared with the previous month.

According to Destatis, exports rose 4.0 percent from January, when sales rose 2.5 percent. This was the second increase in a row. Additionally, growth outperformed the predicted increase of 1.6 percent.

In contrast to January’s 1.4 percent decline, imports increased by 4.6 percent month over month. The increase of 1.0 percent that was anticipated was much smaller than this.

In February, the commerce balance displayed a consistent surplus of EUR 16.0 billion. Due to widespread expectations that import growth would slow in February, economists predicted that the trade balance would rise to EUR 17.0 billion.

Export growth decreased by more than half, from 12.8 percent in the prior month to 6.3 percent annually. Similarly, imports increased by 2.6 percent, a slower rate than January’s 9.1 percent growth.

As a result, from EUR 12.1 billion during the same period last year, the trade surplus grew to an unadjusted EUR 16.9 billion.
In February, the majority of German exports went to the US, with cargo dispatches increasing by 9.4% from the prior month.

Shipments to China increased by 10.2%% while those to the UK only increased by 2.5%.

The majority of imports into Germany in February came from China, which experienced growth of 6.7 percent, while imports from the US and the UK saw declines of 8.7 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively.

Russian imports fell by 67.2 percent while exports fell 14.3 percent on a monthly basis.

Data revealed that imports from the currency union increased by 3.3 percent while exports to the euro area increased by 1.6 percent.

Source: RTT NEWS
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Roughly 45.5 million persons resident in Germany were in employment in February 2023. The seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment continued to rise on the previous month, by 31,000 or +0.1%, according to provisional calculations of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). In January 2023, there was a slightly larger month-on-month increase in the seasonally adjusted number of persons in employment by 73,000 (+0.2%).

Without seasonal adjustment, the number of persons in employment increased to a similar extent (+34,000 people or +0.1%) in February 2023 on January 2023. The increase was less pronounced than compared with the February average of the three pre-crisis years 2017 to 2019 (+63,000 people).

Unemployment rate at 3.0% in February 2023

According to results of the labour force survey, 1.32 million people were unemployed in February 2023. That was a decrease of 79,000, or 5.6%, compared with February 2022. The unemployment rate was 3.0% (February 2022: 3.2%).

Adjusted for seasonal and irregular effects, the number of unemployed stood at 1.29 million, which was a decline on January 2023 (-14,700 people, -1.1%). The adjusted unemployment rate was 2.9% in February 2023.

Source: DESTATIS
Legal Notice: The information in this article is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended for professional information purposes specific to a person or an institution. Every institution has different requirements because of its own circumstances even though they bear a resemblance to each other. Consequently, it is your interest to consult on an expert before taking a decision based on information stated in this article and putting into practice. Neither MuhasebeNews nor related person or institutions are not responsible for any damages or losses that might occur in consequence of the use of the information in this article by private or formal, real or legal person and institutions.

At the end of January 2023, 5.5 million people worked in local units of manufacturing with 50 or more persons employed in Germany. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on the basis of provisional results, that was about 80,500 persons or 1.5% more than in January 2022.

In the manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, the number of employees increased by 0.6%; this is the first time since June 2019 that this industry has recorded an increase in the number of employees compared to the same month of the previous year.

The number of hours worked in January 2023 increased 5.0% from a year earlier, reaching 704 million – here it has to be considered, that there was one working day more than in January 2022.

The earnings amounted to 26.5 billion euros in January 2023. In the past 12 months (February 2022 to January 2023), the earnings increased by 5.7% compared to the same period last year

Source: DESTATIS
Legal Notice: The information in this article is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended for professional information purposes specific to a person or an institution. Every institution has different requirements because of its own circumstances even though they bear a resemblance to each other. Consequently, it is your interest to consult on an expert before taking a decision based on information stated in this article and putting into practice. Neither MuhasebeNews nor related person or institutions are not responsible for any damages or losses that might occur in consequence of the use of the information in this article by private or formal, real or legal person and institutions.