Press release No. 251 of 6 July 2020
May 2020 (provisional): new orders in manufacturing
+10.4% on the previous month (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-29.3% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
April 2020 (revised): new orders in manufacturing
-26.2% on the previous month (price, seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-36.9% on the same month a year earlier (price and calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), real (price adjusted) new orders increased by a seasonally and calendar adjusted 10.4% in May 2020 compared with April 2020. Compared with May 2019, the decrease in calendar adjusted new orders amounted to 29.3%. Excluding major orders, real new orders in manufacturing seasonally and calendar adjusted were 8.9% higher than in the previous month.
Compared with February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the corona pandemic in Germany, new orders in May 2020 were 30.8% lower in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms.
Domestic orders increased by 12.3% and foreign orders rose by 8.8% in May 2020 on the previous month. New orders from the euro area went up 20.9%, and new orders from other countries increased by 2.0% compared with April 2020.
In May 2020 the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders increase by 0.4% compared with April 2020. The manufacturers of capital goods saw an increase of 20.3% on the previous month. Regarding consumer goods, new orders rose 4.7%.
New orders in the automotive industry increased again markedly in May 2020, after very low levels in April 2020. However, new orders were still more than 47% lower than in February 2020.
For April 2020, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in a decrease of 26.2% compared with March 2020 (provisional: -25.8%).
Turnover +10.6% (seasonally adjusted) on the previous month
According to provisional results, price-adjusted turnover in manufacturing in May 2020 went up a seasonally and calendar adjusted 10.6% on the previous month. In April 2020, the corrected figure showed a decrease of 22.4%, compared to March 2020 (provisional: -22.8%).
Compared with February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the corona pandemic in Germany, turnover in May 2020 was 23.5% lower in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms.
Turnover in the automotive industry increased again markedly in May 2020, after very low levels in April 2020. However, it was still nearly 47% lower than in February 2020.
More information on industry turnover in other EU Member States is provided in Eurostat’s database. Germany is among the first countries to provide Eurostat with these monthly data.
Methodological notes
The data on new orders and turnover are based on the volume index of manufacturing, seasonally and calendar adjusted by means of X13 JDemetra+. (The underlying mathematical-statistical method is not fundamentally different from the previously applied method X-12-ARIMA.)
New orders and turnover are covered and evaluated in accordance with the Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008). New orders are covered only in selected economic branches of manufacturing.
Detailed data and long time series are available from the GENESIS-Online database (indices of new orders 42151-0004, indices of new orders excluding major orders 42151-0008 and turnover indices 42152-004).
Crisis Monitor enables comparison between corona crisis and financial/economic crisis
The index of new orders is also part of the “Crisis Monitor“ (www.destatis.de/krisenmonitor), by means of which the Federal Statistical Office compares the development of major short-term indicators in the corona crisis and the financial and economic crisis of 2008/2009. The “Crisis Monitor” complements the “Corona statistics“ webpage, which has provided statistical information on the economic and social consequences of the corona pandemic since early April:
German EU Council Presidency
As of 1 July, the Federal Statistical Office will organise the meetings of the Council Working Party on Statistics to be held during Germany’s EU Council Presidency under the chairmanship of its President Dr. Georg Thiel. Information on our activities during the Presidency of the Council of the EU is provided at destatis.de/eu2020. European statistics are available under „ Europe in figures“ on our website at www.destatis.de.
