German Industrial Production Falls In March

(RTTNews) - Germany's industrial production dropped in March on weak consumer and intermediate goods output, Destatis reported Wednesday.

Industrial production declined 0.4 percent on a monthly basis, in contrast to the 1.7 percent increase in February.

This was the first drop so far this year and the pace of decline was less severe than the expected 0.6 percent fall.

In the first quarter, industrial output was 1.0 percent higher than in the previous three months.

Excluding energy and construction, industrial production dropped 0.4 percent on month. Energy output posted a monthly fall of 4.2 percent, while production in construction grew 1.0 percent.