Press release No. 083 of 7 March 2025

New orders in manufacturing:
January 2025 (in real terms, provisional):
-7.0% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-2.6% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

December 2024 (in real terms, revised):
+5.9% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-6.9% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were down 7.0% in January 2025 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 2.7% lower than in the previous month. The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders in the period from November 2024 to January 2025 were 2.4% lower than in the previous three months; when large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were up 1.0%. After revision of the provisional data, new orders in December 2024 increased by 5.9% on November 2024 (provisional figure: +6.9%).

The negative development of new orders in manufacturing in January 2025 is attributable to the significant decline in new orders in the "manufacture of machinery and equipment" sector (-10.7% on the previous month after seasonal and calendar adjustment) and in the "manufacture of other transport equipment" sector (aircraft, ships, trains, military vehicles; -17.6%). Several large-scale orders were recorded in these sectors in the previous month. The decline in new orders in the "manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products" sector (-12.9%) also negatively impacted the overall result. By contrast, the increase in new orders in the "manufacture of electrical equipment" sector (+4.8%) had a positive effect.

New orders in the intermediate goods sector were down 1.4% in January 2025 on a month earlier. New orders for capital goods and consumer goods declined by 11.0% and 2.0%, respectively.

Domestic orders decreased by 13.2% month on month. Foreign orders dropped by 2.3%, with new orders from the euro area decreasing by 2.5% and orders from outside the euro area declining by 2.3%.

 

Turnover in January 2025 up 0.4% on the previous month

According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) in January 2025 was up 0.4% on the previous month. Compared with January 2024, the calendar adjusted turnover was down 0.9%. After revision of the provisional results, there was an increase of 0.5% in December 2024 compared with November 2024 (provisional figure: -0.1%). The relatively large revision in December 2024 is due to late reporting of data for the "manufacture of ships" sector.

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.

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 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 can also be found on the Economic Dashboard, which is part of 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.