Press release No. 130 of 4 April 2025
New orders in manufacturing:
February 2025 (in real terms, provisional):
0.0% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-0.2% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
January 2025 (in real terms, revised):
-5.5% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+0.1% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were unchanged (0.0%) in February 2025 compared with January 2025 after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). When large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were 0.2% lower than in the previous month. The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders in the period from December 2024 to February 2025 were 1.6% lower than in the previous three months; when large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were up 0.4%. After revision of the provisional data, new orders in January 2025 decreased by 5.5% on December 2024 (provisional figure: -7.0%). The difference from the provisional result is due to late reporting of data in the manufacture of basic metals, the manufacture of machinery and equipment and the automotive industry.
Within manufacturing, strongly opposing trends can be observed in the individual economic sectors in February 2025. The decline in new orders in the manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (-7.4% on the previous month after seasonal and calendar adjustment), the manufacture of electrical equipment (-5.3%) and the pharmaceutical industry (-5.9%) had a negative impact on the overall result. By contrast, the increase in new orders in the manufacture of machinery and equipment (+3.4%), the manufacture of other transport equipment (aircraft, ships, trains, military vehicles; +3.8%) and in the automotive industry (+0.6%) had a positive effect on overall performance.
In February 2025, new orders for capital goods were up 1.5% compared with the previous month. By contrast, there was a decline in new orders for both intermediate goods (-1.3%) and consumer goods (-5.2%).
Foreign orders rose by 0.8%. New orders from the euro area declined by 3.0%, but new orders from outside the euro area increased by 3.4%. Domestic orders were down 1.2%.
Turnover in February 2025 up 0.2% on the previous month
According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) in February 2025 was up 0.2% on the previous month. The calendar adjusted turnover was 2.9% lower than in February 2024. After revision of the provisional data, there was a decrease of 0.9% in January 2025 compared with December 2024. There were larger revisions in the “manufacture of machinery and equipment” sector; the provisional figure was +0.4%.
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.
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 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. The Economic Dashboard also provides a new early indicator for estimating turnover in manufacturing (only in German). First turnover data are therefore already available 20 days after the end of the reference month.
