BERLIN, June 8 — German industrial output plunged a record 17.9 per cent in April compared with March as the coronavirus pandemic shut down Europe's biggest economy, official data showed today.
After a fall of 8.9 per cent 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 per cent.
The April outcome was worse than the average 16 per cent fall expected by analysts.
By category, April machine tools were down 35.3 per cent on the month, intermediate goods fell 13.8 per cent and consumer goods were off 8.7 per cent.
The key auto industry saw output slump 74.6 per cent but construction held up much better, with a fall of just 4.1 per cent.
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 per cent in the first three months of the year. — AFP
