FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Euro zone industrial production fell more than expected in September with Germany suffering the biggest fall among the bloc’s largest nations, indicating than a long-expected recovery could be even further delayed.
Industrial production fell by 2.0% compared to the previous month, exceeding a 1.4% drop seen in a Reuters poll of economists, even as the previous month’s solid 1.8% growth figure was revised down to just 1.5%, data from Eurostat showed on Thursday.
Compared to the same month a year earlier, output was down 2.8%, underperforming a 2.0% drop seen by economists and suggesting that a more than year-long industrial recession is still deepening.
Output in Germany, the 20-nation bloc’s biggest economy, fell by 2.7% from the previous month but France and Italy also reported a decline.
Capital goods output fell by the most but energy production was also down and expansion elsewhere was not enough to offset these drops.
Industrial production rose steadily after the pandemic until the end of 2022 and has been trending down ever since on weak demand from China, the poor performance of the automotive sector and soaring costs on the surge in energy costs.
The figures are likely to support arguments that the bloc’s long-awaited economic recovery is getting even further delayed and any rebound is likely to be shallow because of structural flaws in euro zone economy.
(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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