Development of output in the goods producing sector in May 2023

According to the Federal Statistical Office1, output in the goods-producing sector declined by 0.2% in May compared to the previous month after a rise of 0.3% in April.2 While industrial output rose again slightly by 0.2% in May after the perceptible increase in the preceding month (revised upwards from +0.1 to +0.5%), especially the sharp drop of 7.0% in the energy sector had a dampening effect. The construction industry also registered a decline of 0.4% after a rise in the preceding month.

Within industry, the individual sectors saw differing developments in May: the important automotive and automotive parts sector reported an increase (+4.9), while the similarly large mechanical engineering sector recorded a drop (-0.5%). The manufacture of pharmaceutical products saw a particularly sharp decline (-13.1%). The majority of the particularly energy-intensive sectors of the economy also recorded a fall again (-1.4%), with declines in the fields of the manufacture of chemical products (-0.5%), metal production and processing (-1.5%), glass, glassware and ceramics (-3.1%) and coking and oil processing (-10.5%) and rises in the fields of paper and cardboard (+1.2%) and metal products (+0.1%).

Industrial production thus continued to stabilise and in May again reached its average level of the first quarter of 2023. Consumer goods and capital goods registered increases, while the number of intermediate goods is not yet back at the level of the first quarter. Although business sentiment has worsened, the current stabilisation of demand points to a recovery – albeit only moderate – of the industrial economy in the coming months.

___________________

¹ Press release by the Federal Statistical Office of 7 July 2023

² All figures are based on provisional data and have been adjusted for price, calendar day and seasonal factors (X13 JDemetra+ procedure).