BERLIN (Reuters) - German industrial production dropped more strongly than forecast in June, according to data released on Monday, underlining the challenges faced by manufacturing amid a downturn in Europe's largest economy.
Production fell by 1.5% compared with the previous month, the federal statistics office said on Monday. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 0.5% decline.
The office offers more detailed data on its website.
"The minus in June provides a taster for the poor production figures that are on the horizon for the coming months," said Commerzbank (ETR:CBKG) chief economist Joerg Kraemer.
He pointed to a downward trend in orders and indications that companies had already worked off their order backlogs from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Germany's manufacturing sector has already had a difficult year so far due to dwindling orders, sluggish output and high prices, with the HCOB final Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing falling for a sixth consecutive month in July.
Kraemer said the German economy was expected to contract again in the second half of 2023.
Germany's winter recession ended in the second quarter, when GDP stagnated, according to preliminary data.