Press release No. 134 of 17 April 2020

Stock of orders in manufacturing, February 2020
+0.1% on the previous month (in real terms, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
Range of unfilled orders: 5.8 months

WIESBADEN – The current Corona crisis did not yet have a clear impact on unfilled orders in manufacturing in Germany in February 2020. Based on provisional data, the price adjusted stock of orders in manufacturing in February 2020 increased a seasonally and calendar adjusted 0,1% on the previous month, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Domestic orders not yet completed fell 0.1% on the previous month, the stock of foreign orders rose 0.1% compared with January 2020.

Unfilled orders for producers of intermediate goods in Febuary 2020 were by 0.5% higher than in the previous month. The producers of capital goods recorded a decrease of 0.1%. Regarding consumer goods, the stock fell by 0.5% compared to January 2020.

In February 2020, the range of the stock of orders in manufacturing was 5.8 months (previous month 5.7 months). For the producers of intermediate goods, the range of the stock of orders in Februar y 2020 was 3.0 months (previous month 2.9), for the producers of capital goods 8.1 months (previous month 7.9) and for consumer goods 2.3 months (previous month 2.2).

Price adjusted new orders in manufacturing, which are a determinant of the stock of orders, were down a seasonally and calendar adjusted 1.4% in February 2020 from January 2020 according to provisional results (see press release No.120 of 6 April 2020).

Methodological notes:
The stock of orders comprises the total of new orders received by the end of the reference month which have not led to any turnover and have not been cancelled by that time.

The range indicates for how many months establishments, theoretically, would have to produce goods until all orders on hand are filled - with turnover remaining constant and without any new orders being received. It is calculated as the ratio between the current stock of orders and average turnover per month in the respective branch.

The data on unfilled orders are based on the volume index of the stock of orders in manufacturing, seasonally and calendar adjusted by means of the X13 JDemetra+ method. The index of the stock of orders covers only selected branches of manufacturing, as does the index of new orders.Detailed data are available from the GENESIS-Online database (42155-0004 indices of the stock of orders and 42113-0001 ranges of the stock of orders).