Press release No. 162 of 7 May 2025
New orders in manufacturing:
March 2025 (in real terms, provisional):
+3.6% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+3.8% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
February 2025 (in real terms, revised):
0.0% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-0.2% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)
WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were up 3.6% in March 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 3.2% higher than in the previous month. The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders were 2.3% lower in the 1st quarter of 2025 than in the 4th quarter of 2024; when large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were up 0.5%. After revision of the provisional data, new orders in February 2025 remained unchanged on January 2025 (0.0%; provisional figure confirmed).
Many economic sectors contributed to the increase in new orders in manufacturing in March 2025, in particular the manufacture of electrical equipment (seasonally and calendar adjusted: +14.5% on the previous month), the manufacture of machinery and equipment (+5.3%), the manufacture of other transport equipment (aircraft, ships, trains, military vehicles; +13.0%), the automotive industry (+2.5%) and the pharmaceutical industry (+17.3%).
New orders for capital goods were up 3.7% in March 2025 compared with the previous month. New orders also increased in the intermediate goods sector (+2.5%) and consumer goods sector (+8.7%).
Foreign orders rose by 4.7%, with new orders from the euro area increasing by 8.0% and orders from outside the euro area by 2.8%. Domestic orders increased by 2.0%.
Turnover in March 2025 up 2.2% on the previous month
According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) in March 2025 was up 2.2% on the previous month. The calendar adjusted turnover was 0.4% lower than in March 2024. After revision of the provisional results, there was an increase of 0.3% in February 2025 compared with January 2025 (provisional figure: 0.2%).
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 only collected 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.
