On Tuesday, in a statement the Ifo institute said, German industrial output is likely to touch a new low in the coming three months, even as its index for production expectations saw its biggest drop since the survey was first conducted in 1991.

In March, the index dropped to -20.8 points from 2.0.

“We are assuming that this development is still somewhat underestimated, as most of the answers were received by mid-March,” said Klaus Wohlrabe, an economist at Ifo.

The German statistics office is due to publish industrial output data for February at 0600 GMT.