Germany’s industrial production declined for the first time in three months in March driven by the decreases in consumer and intermediate goods output, official data revealed Wednesday.

Industrial production declined 0.4 percent on a monthly basis, in contrast to the 1.7 percent increase in February, Destatis reported.

This was the first drop so far this year and the pace of decline was less severe than the expected 0.6 percent fall.

In the first quarter, industrial output was 1.0 percent higher than in the previous three months.

Excluding energy and construction, industrial production dropped 0.4 percent from the previous month. Energy output posted a monthly fall of 4.2 percent, while production in construction grew 1.0 percent.

Capital goods output edged up 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, consumer goods output fell 1.4 percent and intermediate goods production dropped 0.6 percent.

The annual decline in industrial production slowed to 3.3 percent in March from 5.3 percent in the previous month.

Data released on Tuesday showed that factory orders slid 0.4 percent on a monthly basis, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent.

Nonetheless, the pace of decrease slowed from February’s revised 0.8 percent drop.

Last week, official data confirmed that the largest euro area economy avoided a recession in the first quarter on exports and investment in construction.

Gross domestic product grew 0.2 percent, reversing a 0.5 percent fall a quarter ago.

ING economist Carsten Brzeski said today’s data affirmed that construction activity boosted the first quarter GDP growth.

“The cyclical downswing has come to an end and optimism is back,” said Brzeski. “However, the road to a substantial recovery, particularly in industry, remains long,” the economist added.