BERLIN, July 8 — Industrial production in Europe's biggest economy rose slightly in May, official data showed today, recovering part of the drop recorded the previous month as global uncertainty weighed on businesses.

Output at producer companies climbed 0.3 per cent in May compared to April, Germany's statistics agency Destatis said.

At the same time, Destatis said the month-on-month drop in April reached 2 per cent, wider than the provisional figure of 1.9 per cent published earlier.

Looking closely at sectors, capital goods helped lift the data with a gain of 2.0 per cent, while consumer goods production also gained 1.1 per cent.

By contrast, construction output showed the biggest drop at 2.4 per cent, while energy production firms recorded a decline of 2.2 per cent.

Manufacturing firms have been especially hard hit in Germany's export-oriented economy, suffering from both the threat of a trade showdown between the US and the EU, plus a full-blown tariff conflict between the White House and Beijing. — AFP