IP in Germany still up 0.8 percent in May 2008 compared to last year

The Statistical Bundesamt in Germany released its industrial production data for the month of May. IP adjusted for working days was down on the month and up only 0.8 percent compared to May of last year. It has to be noted though that industrial production in Germany is coming off very high April numbers, which were up a revised 5 percent compared to April last year. Furthermore the original data (not adjusted n.s.a.) were up 15.7 percent in April and down 1.5 percent in May 2008. The two month combined were up a respectable 6.9 percent compared to the same period last year.

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Industrial Production in the U.K. weakened further in May and is down 0.5 percent in the last three months compared to three months prior. According to the Office of National Statistics:
Between April and May output of the manufacturing industries fell by 0.5 per cent (note that monthly growth rates are volatile, see background note 2). There were widespread falls in manufacturing, with a significant decrease in output of 1.5 per cent in the machinery and equipment industries. There were no significant increases. In the latest three months, manufacturing output decreased by 0.2 per cent, mining and quarrying output decreased by 1.6 per cent and output of the electricity, gas and water supply industries decreased by 2.0 per cent, compared with the previous three months.

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source: Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland http://www.destatis.de/jetspeed/portal/cms/Sites/destatis/Internet/EN/Navigation/Statistics/TimeSeries/EconomicIndicators/Production/TableOverview__nk.psml

source: Index of production, May 2008
Office of National Statistics
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/iop0708.pdf