Press release No. 174 of 21 April 2022

Stock of orders in manufacturing, February 2022
+1.0% on the previous month (in real terms, calendar and seasonally adjusted)
+20.5% on previous year's month (in real terms, calendar adjusted)

The range of stock, February 2022
Range of unfilled orders: 7.9 months

WIESBADEN – Based on provisional data, the price adjusted stock of orders in manufacturing in February 2022 increased a seasonally and calendar adjusted 1.0% on the previous month, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The stock of orders in February 2022 was still 20.5% higher than in February 2021.

Domestic orders increased by 0.5% and foreign orders by 1.3% in February 2022 compared with January 2022. For manufacturers of intermediate goods, the stock of orders in February 2022 increased by 0.1% on the previous month. For manufacturers of capital goods, it rose by 1.3%. In the consumer goods sector, the stock of order was 0.6% higher than in the previous month.

As in the preceding months, the total of the values reported for new orders in many branches of manufacturing in February 2022 was higher than total turnover. The excess demand is likely to be due to the continuing acute shortage of intermediate products (see dossier containing information on delivery bottlenecks (only in German)). As a result, many enterprises have problems filling new orders.

Range of orders rose at 7.9 months

The (non-calendar and seasonally adjusted) range of the stock increased further. In February 2022, it stood at 7.9 months in the manufacturing sector (January 2022: 7.8 months), thus reaching a new high since the start of the time series in 2015. For manufacturers of capital goods, the range was 11.4 months (January 2022: 11.1 months), for intermediate goods it was 4.0 months, as in the previous month, and for consumer goods it was 3.5 months (January 2022: 3.4 months).

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 of the last 12 month in the respective branch.

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 with the previous month or previous quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. A comparison with the calendar adjusted previous year is intended to offer a long-term comparison of levels and is not subject to seasonal fluctuations and calendar effects. Due to strong temporary decreases and increases during the current coronavirus crisis, the results of month-on-month/quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably. In order to provide also a direct comparison with the pre-crisis level, all press releases on short-term indicators available in seasonally adjusted form will, for the time being, include a comparison with February 2020 or the fourth quarter of 2019.

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 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.

More information:

Results regarding the stock of orders in manufacturing, also by branch, are additionally available on the “Corona statistics” webpage of the Federal Statistical Office together with other indicators which can be used to assess the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

Detailed data are available in the GENESIS-Online database (42155-0004 indices of the stock of orders and 42113-0001 ranges of the stock of orders).