Last April, new orders from German factories registered a monthly decline of 0.2% in real termsafter the 0.8% drop experienced in March, thus fueling uncertainty about the strength of the recovery of the ‘European locomotive’, according to data from the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis).
Likewise, the quarterly comparison, less volatile, showed that new orders were 5.4% lower between February and April 2024 than in the previous three monthswhich was mainly due to a large-scale order in December 2023.
Excluding large orders, new orders in April increased by 2.9% compared to March, while in the period from February to April 2024 they were 1.4% lower than in the previous three months.
In April, new orders increased compared to the previous month both in the capital goods sector (+0.5%) and in the consumer goods sector (+0.7%). On the other hand, in the intermediate goods sector there was a drop of 1.7%.
Foreign orders fell 0.1%. Specifically, new orders from the euro zone decreased by 1.4%. On the contrary, new orders from non-eurozone countries increased by 0.6%. On the other hand, internal orders decreased by 0.3%.
Orders
The German statistical office has highlighted that new orders in April decreased in the four branches of manufacturing industry due to the significantly lower number of large-scale orders compared to the previous month.
This was especially reflected in the 15.4% decrease in new orders in the manufacturing of other transportation equipment (aircraft, ships, trains) compared to March, after seasonal and calendar adjustment.
The falls recorded in the manufacturing of computer, electronic and optical products (-5.1%), the manufacturing of electrical equipment (-4.1%) and the manufacturing of machinery and equipment (-1.5%) were also attributable due to the lack of large orders. On the contrary, the increase in the automotive industry (+4.1%) had a positive impact in the overall result.
