Press release No. 201 of 5 June 2020
April 2020 (provisional): new orders in manufacturing
-25.8% on the previous month (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-36.6% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
March 2020 (revised): new orders in manufacturing
-15.0% on the previous month (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-15.4% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – The new orders in manufacturing in Germany decreased significantly again in April 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic after they had fallen markedly already in March. According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), real (price adjusted) new orders decreased by a seasonally and calendar adjusted 25.8% in April 2020 compared with March 2020. This is the largest decline since the beginning of the time series in January 1991. Compared with April 2019, the decrease in calendar adjusted new orders amounted to 36.6%. Excluding major orders, real new orders in manufacturing seasonally and calendar adjusted were 25.1% lower than in the previous month.
Domestic orders decreased by 22.3% and foreign orders fell by 28.1% in April 2020 on the previous month. New orders from the euro area went down 30.6%, and new orders from other countries decreased by 26.7% compared with March 2020.
In April 2020 the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders decrease by 22.7% compared with March 2020. The manufacturers of capital goods saw a decrease of 30.6% on the previous month. Regarding consumer goods, new orders fell 11.4%.
For March 2020, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in a decrease of 15.0% compared with February 2020 (provisional: -15.6%).
Turnover -22.8% (seasonally adjusted) on the previous month
According to provisional results, price-adjusted turnover in manufacturing in April 2020 went down a seasonally and calendar adjusted 22.8% on the previous month. In March 2020, the corrected figure showed a decrease of 10.9%, compared to February 2020 (provisional: -11.5%).
Methodological notes
The data on new orders and turnover are based on the volume index of manufacturing, seasonally and calendar adjusted by means of X13 JDemetra+. (The underlying mathematical-statistical method is not fundamentally different from the previously applied method X-12-ARIMA.)
New orders and turnover are covered and evaluated in accordance with the Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008). New orders are covered only in selected economic branches of manufacturing.
Detailed data and long time series are available from the GENESIS-Online database (indices of new orders 42151-0004, indices of new orders excluding major orders 42151-0008 and turnover indices 42152-004).
Crisis Monitor enables comparison between corona crisis and financial/economic crisis
The index of new orders is also part of the “Crisis Monitor“ (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor), by means of which the Federal Statistical Office compares the development of major short-term indicators in the corona crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The “Crisis Monitor” complements the “Corona statistics“ webpage, which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic since early April.
