German industry has in reality been suffering for a long time

German industrial production has been declining markedly in the recent period, linked to the decline in demand for industrial capital goods and cars. But in reality, German industry has been suffering for a long time. German industrial production capacity has been stagnating since 2010; the rapid growth in Ger man exports has been due to re-exports of imports (which in Germany is called "the bazar economy") and not to the development of industrial production capacity in Germany. In reality, Germany has been suffering from the deterioration in its cost competitiveness for ten years, because wage s have increased faster than in the rest of the euro zone and because productivity gains have become weak in industry, despite companies’ effort to modernise.