<p>BERLIN — Industrial production in Germany dropped for a second consecutive month in February, official data showed Friday, a showing that increases the likelihood of Europe’s biggest economy having contracted in the first quarter.</p>
<p>The Economy Ministry said that production was down 2% compared with the previous month. The unexpected decline followed a 1.6% drop in January. A bout of harsh winter weather that weighed on construction may have been a factor.</p>
<p>The ministry said that increasing business confidence and increases in factory orders point to “a positive outlook for industrial activity in the coming months.”</p>
<p>Germany’s economy grew 0.3% in last year’s fourth quarter compared with the previous three-month period. </p>
<p>But with Friday’s data, “it is hard to see how the German economy could escape a contraction in the first quarter,” ING economist Carsten Brzeski wrote in a research note. That would take “an explosion of manufacturing and construction activity in March,” he said.</p>
<p>In a separate report Friday, the Federal Statistical Office said German exports were up 0.9% in February over the previous month, while imports were up 3.6%.</p>
<p>In year-on-year terms, exports were down 1.2% and imports rose 0.9%. Exports to Britain, which left the European Union’s economic structures at the end of last year, dropped 12.2% on the year in February, following a 29% decline in January.</p>
<p>Imports from the U.K. were down 26.9% following a 56.2% slump in January.</p>
<p>Germany’s economy did better last year than several others in Europe as it was supported by manufacturing, which has taken less of a hit than services during the pandemic.</p>
<p>German authorities haven’t imposed any shutdowns on industry during the crisis, but many restrictions on businesses such as restaurants, bars, hotels and leisure facilities remain in place.</p>
