Press release No. 195 of 5 June 2025

New orders in manufacturing
April 2025 (in real terms, provisional):
+0.6% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+4.8% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

March 2025 (in real terms, revised):
+3.4% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
+3.7% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were up 0.6% in April 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 0.3% higher than in the previous month. The less volatile three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders in the period from February 2025 to April 2025 were 0.5% higher than in the previous three months; when large-scale orders are excluded, new orders were up 1.3%. After revision of the provisional data, new orders in March 2025 increased by 3.4% on February 2025 (provisional figure: +3.6%).

The positive development of new orders in manufacturing in April 2025 was essentially attributable to the substantial growth in the "manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products" sector, where new orders were up 21.5% on the previous month due to several large-scale orders. Increases in new orders for the manufacture of other transport equipment (aircraft, ships, trains, military vehicles; +7.1%) and the manufacture of fabricated metal products (+4.4%) also had a positive effect. By contrast, the declines observed in the manufacture of electrical equipment (-9.2%) and in the manufacture of machinery and equipment (-4.2%) negatively impacted the overall result. New orders in the pharmaceutical industry also decreased in April 2025 (-14.1%), following an increase of 16.2% in the previous month.

New orders for capital goods were up 4.1% in April 2025 compared with the previous month. By contrast, new orders for both intermediate goods and consumer goods dropped by 3.4% and 5.9%, respectively.

Foreign orders fell by 0.3%, with new orders from the euro area increasing by 0.5%, whereas new orders from outside the euro area declined by 0.9%. Domestic orders rose by 2.2%.

Turnover in April 2025 down 1.5% on the previous month

According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) was down 1.5% in April 2025 from the previous month. The calendar adjusted turnover was 1.0% lower than in April 2024. After revision of the provisional data, there was an increase of 2.3% in March 2025 from February 2025 (provisional figure: +2.2%).

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.