Press release No. 005 of 8 January 2025

New orders in manufacturing:
November 2024 (in real terms, provisional):
-5.4% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-1.7% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted) 

October 2024 (in real terms, revised):
-1.5% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+5.7% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted) 

WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were down 5.4% in November 2024 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). When large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were 0.2% higher than in the previous month, however. The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that total new orders in the period from September to November 2024 were 1.7% higher than in the previous three months, and new orders excluding large-scale orders were up 0.5%. In October 2024, new orders declined by 1.5% from September 2024 and this decrease remained unchanged after revision of the provisional results.

The negative month-on-month development of new orders in manufacturing in November 2024 was primarily due to sizeable large-scale orders for other transport equipment (aircraft, ships, trains, military vehicles) which were received in October 2024. This high volume of large-scale orders was not repeated in November 2024. Therefore, new orders in this sector in November 2024 were 58.4% lower than in the previous month, on a seasonally and calendar adjusted basis. New orders received in the other branches of manufacturing had a comparatively small impact on the overall result. The manufacture of machinery (+1.2%) and the chemical industry (+1.7%) recorded slight increases compared with the previous month, while new orders decreased slightly in the manufacture of basic metals (-1.2%) and showed a somewhat larger decline in the less important pharmaceutical industry (-7.2%).

New orders in the intermediate goods sector were up 1.8% in November 2024 on a month earlier. By contrast, new orders for consumer goods and capital goods decreased by 7.1% and 9.4%, respectively.

Domestic orders rose by 3.8% month on month. Foreign orders dropped by 10.8%, with new orders from the euro area decreasing by 3.8% and orders from outside the euro area declining by 14.8%.

 

Turnover in November 2024 up 1.4% on the previous month

According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) in November 2024 was up 1.4% on the previous month. Compared with November 2023, the calendar adjusted turnover was down 2.3%. After revision of the provisional data, there was a decrease of 1.5% in October 2024 from September 2024 (provisional figure: -1.2%).

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.

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). In this data portal, the Federal Statistical Office brings together up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, the labour market, construction, housing, energy and Ukraine. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.