Press release No. 266 of 6 July 2023
New orders in manufacturing:
May 2023 (in real terms, provisional):
+6.4% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-4.3% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
April 2023 (in real terms, revised)
+0.2% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-9.3% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were up 6.4% in May 2023 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). After revision of the provisional results, new orders in April 2023 increased by 0.2% compared with March 2023 (provisional figure: -0.4%). However, the less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders were 6.1% lower in the period from March to May than in the previous three months. New orders excluding large-scale orders were up 3.2% in May 2023 compared with the previous month.
Within manufacturing, positive developments can be observed in the individual economic sectors for the most part. The manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (+8.6% on the previous month after seasonal and calendar adjustment) and the manufacture of other transport equipment (+137.1%) had a particularly positive impact on the overall performance. The manufacture of other transport equipment includes the manufacture of ships, railway rolling stock, air and spacecraft, and military vehicles. The sharp increase in this sector is due to large-scale orders. By contrast, the manufacture of electrical equipment showed a clearly negative performance trend (-15.0%).
While new orders in the capital goods sector were up 12.0% on the previous month, they were down 1.1% in the intermediate goods sector and fell 0.8% in the area of consumer goods during the same period.
Domestic orders rose by 6.2% and foreign orders by 6.4%, with new orders from the euro area increasing by 6.5% and orders from the rest of the world by 6.2%.
Turnover up 2.7% in May 2023 on the previous month
According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) was up 2.7% in May 2023 on the previous month. After revision of the provisional data, there was a decrease of 0.2% in April 2023 from March 2023 (provisional figure: -1.2%). The calendar adjusted turnover in May 2023 was 4.0% higher than in May 2022.
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 of seasonally and calendar adjusted figures with those of the previous month or quarter. These reflect short-term economic trends. Year-on-year comparisons of calendar adjusted results enable long-term comparisons of levels and are not influenced by seasonal fluctuations and calendar effects. The results of month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably because of the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine.
New orders and turnover in manufacturing are recorded and evaluated in accordance with the Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008). Information on new orders is only collected in selected branchesof manufacturing. The rates of change are based on the price adjusted indices of new orders and of turnover in manufacturing. The average figure for 2015 is used as the basis of the index and set to 100 index points (2015 = 100). The X13 JDemetra+ method was used for calendar and seasonal adjustment.
More information:
Detailed data and long time series are available in the GENESIS-Online database: indices of new orders (42151-0004), indices of new orders excluding large-scale orders (42151-0008), and turnover indices (42152-0004).
A dossier on the "Short-term indicators" page of the Federal Statistical Office's website provides an analysis of the relationship between material shortages, new orders, production and prices in industry. Detailed information on production in energy-intensive industrial branches is available on the “Industry, manufacturing“ page.
Information on new orders in manufacturing is also available on Dashboard Germany (www.dashboard-deutschland.de) (only in German). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, health and mobility. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.
