Press release No. 259 of 4 July 2024

New orders in manufacturing:
May 2024 (in real terms, provisional):
-1.6% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-8.6% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted) 

April 2024 (in real terms, revised):
-0.6% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-1.8% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted) 

WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were down 1.6% in May 2024 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). It was the fifth consecutive decline on the previous month. The three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders were 6.2% lower in the period from March 2024 to May 2024 than in the previous three months, which was attributable in part to a large-scale order in December 2023. When large-scale orders are excluded, new orders in May 2024 were down 2.2% on April 2024, and they were 0.8% lower in the period from March 2024 to May 2024 than in the previous three months. After revision of the provisional data, new orders decreased by 0.6% (provisional figure: -0.2%) in April 2024 from a month earlier.

Different developments in the economic sectors, smaller volume of large-scale orders in aircraft construction

Within manufacturing, strongly opposing trends were seen in the individual economic sectors in May 2024. Especially in the "manufacture of other transport equipment" sector (aircraft, ships, trains), new orders fell 19.2% month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment. The marked decline in this sector is due to a smaller volume of large-scale orders in aircraft construction compared with the previous month. The 2.9% drop in orders observed in the automotive industry also had a negative impact on the overall result, while increases in the “manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products” sector (+11.2%) had a positive effect.

In the capital goods sector, new orders in May 2024 dropped by 4.3% month on month. New orders were up on the previous month in both the intermediate goods sector (+1.4%) and the consumer goods sector (+4.9%).

Foreign orders declined by 2.8%, with new orders from the non-euro area declining by 4.6% and orders from the euro area falling by 0.1%. Domestic orders rose by 0.5%.

 

Turnover in May 2024 down 0.7% on the previous month

According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) in May 2024 was down 0.7% on the previous month. Compared with May 2023, the calendar adjusted turnover was 6.0% lower. After revision of the provisional data, there was a decrease of 1.0% in April 2024 from March 2024 (provisional figure: -0.9%).

Methodological notes:

The differing comparative periods must be taken into account in all press releases on short-term indicators. Short-term economic monitoring focuses on comparisons of seasonally and calendar adjusted figures with those of the previous month or quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. Year-on-year comparisons of calendar adjusted results enable long-term comparisons of levels and are not influenced by seasonal fluctuations or calendar effects. The results of month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably due to the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine.

New orders and turnover in manufacturing are recorded and evaluated in accordance with the "Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008)". Information on new orders is collected only in selected branches (only in German) of manufacturing. The rates of change are based on the price adjusted indices of new orders and of turnover in manufacturing. The average figure for 2021 is used as the basis of the index and set to 100 index points (2021 = 100). The X13 JDemetra+ method was used for calendar and seasonal adjustment.

For better readability, this press release uses a short form for the names of some economic branches which differs from the designations in the "Classification of Economic Activities (2008 edition)". An overview of these short forms (only in German) is provided on the "Industry, manufacturing" page on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.

More information:

Detailed data and long time series are available in the GENESIS-Online database (42151-0004 indices of new orders, 42151-0008 indices of new orders excluding large-scale orders, and 42152-0004 turnover indices).

A dossier on the "Short-term indicators" page of the Federal Statistical Office's website provides an analysis of the relationship between material shortages, new orders, production and prices in industry. Detailed information on production in energy-intensive industrial branches (only in German) is available on the "Industry, manufacturing" page.

Information on new orders in manufacturing is also available on Dashboard Germany www.dashboard-deutschland.de (only in German). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, health and mobility. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.