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 three-month on three-month 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% month-on-month 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