Germany: Industrial orders up for first time in 6 months

German manufacturers received some good news on Tuesday, with the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reporting a rise of 3.9% in industrial orders over the previous month.

Analysts had expected a much smaller rise of 0.5%.

The June rise was driven by domestic orders, which rose by 9.1%, Destatis said. Demand from abroad rose by just 0.4%.

Automobile industry main driver

Orders in the automobile manufacturing sector rose by a whole 9.2% in June as a main driver of the growth, according to Destatis.

Companies manufacturing metal products and those involved in the construction of planes, ships and trains also saw orders rise.

However, in the computer, electronic and optical equipment sector, orders fell by 7.9%,

According to Destatis, the figure would have been lower, at 3.3%, if there had not been some large-scale orders, which are subject to wide fluctuations.

The year-on-year comparison gives less reason for optimism in industry, with orders down 11.8% compared with June last year.

‘No reason to give the all-clear’

Economics expert Jupp Zenzen from the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that the June rise was “unfortunately no reason to give the all-clear” and called the first half of 2024 a “disappointment” overall.

“German industry is in danger of losing competitiveness because of several structural problems, such as high costs, bureaucracy and a lack of specialist labor,” he said in comments carried by the AFP news agency, adding that energy prices also remained a problem.

Orders in the second quarter of 2024, from April to June, were down 1.4% on the previous quarter, Destatis said.