Germany’s real industrial production in February 2026 fell by 0.3 percent compared to January, after adjusting for seasonality and calendar effects, according to preliminary figures released on Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). When looking at the less volatile three-month comparison, production from December 2025 through February 2026 declined by 0.4 percent compared to the three preceding months.
For the month of January 2026, production maintained the same level as the previous month (0.0 percent), following revisions to initial estimates (the preliminary figure was -0.5 percent). Additionally, for February 2026, production was unchanged in calendar terms when compared to the same month last year, February 2025 (0.0 percent).
The decline observed in February 2026 relative to January was attributed to setbacks in several sectors: the construction industry fell by 1.2 percent, the sector for manufacturing data processing equipment, electrical, and optical goods saw a decrease of 3.9 percent, and the pharmaceutical industry experienced a drop of 4.4 percent. However, the automotive industry provided a positive effect with an increase of 1.7 percent.
Separately, overall industrial production in February 2026 fell by 0.1 percent compared to January 2026, adjusted for seasonality and calendar changes. Consumption goods saw a production decrease of 1.5 percent, while production of intermediate goods rose by 0.4 percent, and the production of capital goods increased by 0.1 percent. Outside of the industrial sector, energy generation rose by 0.3 percent. When compared to February 2025, industrial production showed a calendar-adjusted decline of 0.6 percent.
In energy-intensive industrial sectors, production increased by 1.9 percent in February 2026 compared to January 2026, when adjusted for seasonality and calendar effects. In the three-month comparison, production in these energy-intensive sectors remained stable between December 2025 and February 2026 (0.0 percent). Compared to the same month last year, February 2025, energy-intensive production was calendar-adjusted by 0.1 percent higher.