German Industrial Base Still Struggling, April Factory Orders -0.4% vs +3.0% m/m Expected

Germany’s industrial powerhouse has still not recovered from the supply line crisis and then the difficulties of being so reliant on Russia for energy and the shocks that came with that. German industrial orders unexpectedly dropped by 0.4% m/m in April 2023, missing market estimates of a 3.0% rise and following an upwardly revised 10.9% fall in March. This was the second straight month of decline in industrial orders, dragged down a fall in large-scale orders. If you take out the large-scale orders there was an increase of 1.4% in industrial orders on the month. That does give some confidence of a more positive outlook.

German Industrial (Factory) Orders April 2023

Highlights

  • New Orders -0.4% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
    New Orders -9.9% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
  • New orders for miscellaneous vehicle construction, which includes the construction of ships, railed vehicles, aircraft, spacecraft, and army vehicles, plunged 34%
  • New orders for manufacture of machinery and equipment down 6.2%.
  • Excluding large-scale orders, new orders rose 1.4%.
  • Capital goods orders were down 1.7%
  • orders for consumer goods fell by 2.5%.
  • Orders for motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts rose significantly by 2.4%
  • Demand for intermediate goods increased by 2.3%.
  • Foreign orders decreased 1.8%, with those from the Euro Area down 2.7%,
  • Domestic orders went up 1.6%
Germany Factory Orders

Looking at the less volatile three-month-average, new orders were 2.3% lower in the recent three-month period than they were the previous three months.

Turnover down 1.2% in April 2023 on the previous month

According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) decreased by 1.2% in April 2023 compared to March 2023. A revision of the provisional figures revealed a decrease of 2.2% in March 2023 from February 2023 (provisional figure: -2.9%). The calendar adjusted turnover in April 2023 was 2.9% higher than in April 2022.

Source: DEstatis

From The TradersCommunity News Desk