Press release No. 260 of 17 July 2025

Stock of orders in manufacturing, May 2025
+0.4%, in real terms, on the previous month (calendar and seasonally adjusted)
+4.7%, in real terms, on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

Range of the stock of orders
7.8 months

WIESBADEN – The real (price adjusted) stock of orders in manufacturing was up 0.4% in May 2025 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The calendar adjusted stock of orders was 4.7% higher in May 2025 than in May 2024.

 

The month-on-month increase in the stock of orders in May 2025 was primarily attributable to the development in the "manufacture of other transport equipment" sector (aircraft, ships, trains, military vehicles; +2.1% after seasonal and calendar adjustment). The growth recorded in the manufacture of fabricated metal products (+2.4%) also had a positive effect. By contrast, the decline in the automotive industry (-1.4%) had a negative impact on the overall result.

Unfilled domestic orders in May 2025 were down 0.3% on April 2025, whereas the stock of foreign orders increased by 0.8%.

In the case of producers of intermediate goods, the stock of orders contracted by 0.2%. For producers of capital goods, the stock of orders registered growth of 0.6%, and producers of consumer goods experienced an increase of 0.3%.

Range of the stock of orders unchanged at 7.8 months

The range of the stock of orders in May 2025 remained unchanged on the previous month at 7.8 months. For producers of capital goods, the range also remained the same (10.7 months). It was also unchanged for intermediate goods producers (4.3 months) and consumer goods producers (3.6 months).

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:

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.

Important technical information regarding the GENESIS-Online database:

Changes to the web service interface of our GENESIS-Online database have been in effect since 15 July 2025. POST methods of the RESTful/JSON interface can be used instead of GET methods and the SOAP/XML interface. Please verify that your processes are set up to use POST requests to communicate with the RESTful/JSON interface. Detailed technical documentation and more information about the changeover can be found on the info page on the web service interface.