Press release No. 104 of 19 March 2025

Stock of orders in manufacturing, January 2025
0.0%, in real terms, on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
0.0%, in real terms, on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

Range of the stock of orders
7.6 months

WIESBADEN – The real (price adjusted) stock of orders in manufacturing was unchanged (0.0%) in January 2025 compared with December 2024 after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The calendar adjusted stock of orders was also unchanged (0.0%) compared with January 2024.

 

Within manufacturing, different trends were seen in January 2025 compared with December 2024, however. While the decline in the stock of orders in the manufacture of other transport equipment (aircraft, ships, trains, military vehicles; -0.7% on the previous month after seasonal and calendar adjustment) and in the manufacture of machinery and equipment (-0.8%) negatively affected the overall result, growth in the automotive industry (+1.0%) and in the manufacture of electrical equipment (+1.4%) had a positive impact.

In manufacturing, both the stock of unfilled domestic orders and the stock of foreign orders remained unchanged (0.0%) in January 2025 compared with December 2024.

In the intermediate goods sector, the stock of orders was up 0.9%. The stock of orders for producers of capital goods decreased by 0.1%, and producers of consumer goods experienced a decline of 0.9%.

Range of the stock of orders increased to 7.6 months

Compared with the previous month, the range of the stock of orders rose to 7.6 months in January 2025 (December 2024: 7.5 months). The range of the stock of orders increased to 10.3 months (December 2024: 10.1 months) for producers of capital goods and to 4.3 months (December 2024: 4.2) for producers of intermediate goods, while it remained unchanged at 3.6 months for producers of consumer goods.

Assuming turnover remains constant and no new orders are received, the range indicates the number of months local units would, in theory, have to produce goods in order to fill all orders on hand. It is calculated as the ratio between the current stock of orders and average turnover of the last twelve months in the respective branch.

Methodological notes:

In the reference month of September 2024 there are differences between the change rates for the stock of domestic and foreign orders and the change rate for manufacturing as a whole. Such rounding differences can occur as the process of calculating the overall result consists of several steps.

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. 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 stock of orders comprises all new orders received by the end of the reference month which have neither generated any turnover nor been cancelled by that time. The rates of change are based on the price adjusted index of the stock of orders 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. The stock of orders is covered and evaluated in accordance with the "Classification of Economic Activities, 2008 edition (WZ 2008)". In the process, information on the stock of orders and information on new orders is only collected in selected branches (only in German) of manufacturing.

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 are available from the GENESIS-Online database (42155-0004 indices of the stock of orders and 42113-0001 Ranges of the stock of orders).

Detailed information on production in energy-intensive industrial branches (only in German) is available on the "Industry, manufacturing" page.