German industrial output falls record 17.9% in April 2020

FACTORY. This aerial view shows a blast furnace at the plant of German industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp in Duisburg, Germany, on May 8, 2020. Photo by Ina Fassbender/AFP

BERLIN, Germany – German industrial output plunged a record 17.9% in April compared with March as the coronavirus pandemic shut down Europe's biggest economy, official data showed on Monday, June 8.

After a fall of 8.9% in March, industrial output experienced "its biggest drop since this data was first recorded in January 1991," the Destatis official statistics agency said.

Compared with April 2019, industrial output was down 25.3%.

The April outcome was worse than the average 16% fall expected by analysts.

By category, April machine tools were down 35.3% on the month, intermediate goods fell 13.8%, and consumer goods were off 8.7%.

The key auto industry saw output slump 74.6%, but construction held up much better, with a fall of just 4.1%.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused huge economic disruption around the world, but Germany has managed to do better than many of its peers, with total economic output down 2.2% in the first 3 months of the year. – Rappler.com