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Assembly at Volkswagen (in Hanover)
Photo: Julian Stratenschulte / dpa
German industrial companies surprisingly expanded their production significantly in October.
Compared to the previous month, the total production increased by 2.8 percent, announced the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden.
Analysts had expected an increase, but estimated it at just one percent.
In addition, according to new data, the result in September was not quite as weak as previously known.
Economists explain the good numbers primarily with the positive development in the automotive sector: "The unexpectedly strong increase in industrial production in October is partly due to a recovery in car production," says Commerzbank chief economist Jörg Krämer.
"But this recovery will not just continue."
Three quarters of the companies still complained that the shortage of materials was hindering their production.
In addition, there would be the high number of corona infections, which could cause port closings and further delivery bottlenecks.
"Despite the good production figures in October, German industry is still not over the hill," says Krämer.
Full order books but missing parts
The industry alone produced 3.2 percent more in October.
The automotive industry was able to increase its production by 12.6 percent.
The companies are currently sitting on bulging order books.
In the past few months, however, the orders could not be processed due to acute bottlenecks in preliminary products such as microchips.
The construction industry was able to increase its output in October by 1.2 percent.
Energy generation was increased by 0.9 percent.
Also because of the bottlenecks, the upswing in the coming year will turn out to be a number smaller than originally thought, according to the forecast of the federal government.
It lowered its growth forecast to 2.6 percent from 3.5 percent previously.
In 2022 there should be an increase of 4.1 percent, and then 1.6 percent in 2023.
mic / dpa-afx / Reuters