Press release No. 455 of 5 December 2024

New orders in manufacturing:
October 2024 (in real terms, revised):
-1.5% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+5.7% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted) 

September 2024 (in real terms, revised):
+7.2% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+4.2% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted) 

WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were down 1.5% in October 2024 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). When large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were 0.1% higher than in the previous month. The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that total new orders were 2.7% higher in the period from August to October 2024 than in the previous three months, and new orders excluding large-scale orders were 0.7% lower. After revision of the provisional results, new orders in September 2024 increased by 7.2% compared with August 2024 (provisional figure: +4.2%). The relatively high revision in September 2024 is due to a large-scale order in the manufacture of ships which was reported late. Large-scale orders in the manufacture of ships also strongly impacted the overall result for October 2024.

The development of new orders in October 2024 differed strongly in other branches of manufacturing. The negative development of total new orders is attributable to declines recorded in the manufacture of machinery and equipment (-7.6%) and in the automotive industry (-3.7%). Increases observed in the manufacture of basic metals (+10.2%) and the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (+8.0%) had a positive impact on the overall result.

New orders were up 0.9% in the intermediate goods sector and rose by 4.2% for consumer goods in October 2024. By contrast, the capital goods sector saw a 3.6% decrease of new orders.

Domestic orders dropped by 5.3% and total foreign orders rose slightly by 0.8%, with new orders from the euro area decreasing by 7.6% and orders from outside the euro area rising by 6.3%.

 

Turnover in October 2024 down 1.2% on the previous month

According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) in October 2024 was down 1.2% on the previous month. Compared with October 2023, the calendar adjusted turnover declined by 3.9%. After revision of the provisional results, there was a decrease of 1.1% in September 2024 from August 2024 (provisional figure: -1.4%).

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 or calendar effects. The results of month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably due to 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 collected only in selected branches (only in German) of manufacturing. The rates of change are based on the price adjusted indices of new orders and of turnover in manufacturing. The average figure for 2021 is used as the basis of the index and set to 100 index points (2021 = 100). The X13 JDemetra+ method was used for calendar and seasonal adjustment.

For better readability, this press release uses a short form for the names of some economic branches which differs from the designations in the "Classification of Economic Activities (2008 edition)". An overview of these short forms (only in German) is provided on the "Industry, manufacturing" page on the website of the Federal Statistical Office.

More information:

Detailed data and long time series are available in the GENESIS-Online database (42151-0004 indices of new orders, 42151-0008 indices of new orders excluding large-scale orders, and 42152-0004 turnover indices).

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 (only in German) 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). In this data portal, the Federal Statistical Office brings together up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, the labour market, construction, housing, energy and Ukraine. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.

Important information regarding the GENESIS-Online database:

After leaving the beta phase, our database's new user interface has been online since 5 November 2024. The new interface offers faster data retrieval and intuitive table search and customisation options. There have also been changes to the structure of the machine-readable flat file (CSV) format and the data output format for table downloads. For further details and other important information on the release, please see the info page of the new GENESIS-Online database.