Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were up 8.9% in December 2023 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders were 0.1% higher in the period from October to December 2023 than in the previous three months. New orders excluding large-scale orders were down 2.2% in December 2023 compared with the previous month. After revision of the provisional data, new orders in November 2023 were unchanged from October 2023 (provisional figure +0.3%). In 2023 as a whole, new orders were down 5.9% compared with the previous year, after adjustment for calendar effects. By contrast, the manufacture of other transport equipment, which includes the manufacture of aircraft, ships and trains, registered an increase in new orders.
Within manufacturing, the sharp increase in December 2023 is attributable to a very high volume of large-scale orders in a range of branches. In particular, an exceptionally large number of aircraft were ordered. In the “manufacture of other transport equipment” sector (aircraft, ships, trains etc.), new orders received in December 2023 more than doubled those received in the previous month (+110.9%). In addition, large-scale orders in the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (+18.0%) and the manufacture of electrical equipment (+38.7%) had a positive impact on overall performance. By contrast, new orders declined in the automotive industry (-14.7%), the manufacture of machinery and equipment (-5.3%) and the chemical industry (-3.7%), which are major sectors.
In December 2023, new orders were up on the previous month in both the capital goods sector (+10.9%) and the intermediate goods sector (+8.3%). A drop of 1.3% was recorded in the consumer goods sector.
Domestic orders rose by 9.4%. Foreign orders increased by 8.5%, with new orders from the euro area growing by 34.5% and orders from the rest of the world decreasing by 7.5%.
Source: Destatis.de
