May 8 Reuters German industrial production declined in March, although less than expected thanks to construction, data from the federal statistics office showed on Wednesday.

Industrial production fell by 0.4 compared to February, a smaller decline than the 0.6 fall predicted by analysts polled by Reuters.

The less volatile threemonth on threemonth comparison showed production was 1.0 higher from January to March than in the previous three months, the statistics office said.

Production increased by 1.7 in February on the month, less than the 2.1 before the revision of the data.

Demand in manufacturing remains weak. German industrial orders fell by 0.4 monthonmonth in March, on a seasonally and calendar adjusted basis, data showed on Monday.

In April, 39.5 of manufacturing companies reported a lack of orders, up from 36.9 in January, a separate survey of the Ifo Institute showed on Wednesday.

The lack of orders is hampering economic development in Germany, said Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at Ifo.

Production in manufacturing which excludes energy and construction was down 0.4 on the month.

There was a 4.2 decrease on the month in energy production in March, while production in construction grew by 1.0 from the previous month, Destatis data showed.

Reporting by Mateusz Dobrzyniewski and Maria Martinez, Editing by Rachel More, Andrey Sychev and Lincoln Feast.

Source Reuters