Manufacturing production across the EU fell by more than 6pc on the year in September, the largest drop for any month since June 2020, preliminary data from Eurostat show. EU output fell by 6.1pc from September 2022, its fifth consecutive year-on-year reduction. It was lower than a year earlier in four out of the five top gas-consuming countries — Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and France (see year-on-year graph). Only Spain, one of Europe's most resilient economies over the past two years, managed a small increase of 0.6pc on the year. September was the weakest month of German output compared with a 2015 ... (full story)