German industrial production rose sharply in Feb.

German industrial production rose more-than-expected in February, mainly led by a strong increase in building industry output.

Industrial output in the eurozone’s largest economy increased 1.6 percent compared with upwardly revised figure of 2 percent gain in January, the ministry of economics and technology said on Thursday. Markets had expected the factory output to increase slightly by 0.5 percent in the month.

'The buoyant start to the year in the industrial sector is set to continue, ' the ministry said.

The production of building industry, which had slumped during the cold winter weather, rose 3.4 percent in February.

The ministry on Wednesday said that the new factory orders in Germany rose 2.4 percent in February against the analysts’ expectations of 0.5 percent increase, mainly due to a strong domestic demand.

“With order books already full, growing order demand is expected to provide a important support industrial production and the economy as a whole in the coming months,' the ministry said.

The jump in February orders was largely owing to a 4.5 percent increase in new orders for capital goods.