New orders in manufacturing in April 2024: -0.2% on the previous month (2024)

Press release No. 220 of 6 June 2024

New orders in manufacturing:
April 2024 (in real terms, provisional):
-0.2% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-1.6% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

March 2024 (in real terms, revised):
-0.8% on the previous month (seasonally and calendar adjusted)
-2.4% on the same month a year earlier (calendar adjusted)

WIESBADEN – Real (price adjusted) new orders in manufacturing were down 0.2% in April 2024 month on month after seasonal and calendar adjustment, according to provisional figures of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The three-month on three-month comparison showed that new orders were 5.4% lower in the period from February to April 2024 than in the previous three months, which was mainly due to a large-scale order in December 2023. When large-scale orders are excluded, new orders in April 2024 were up 2.9% on March 2024, while they were 1.4% lower in the period from February to April 2024 than in the previous three months. After revision of the provisional data, new orders decreased by 0.8% (provisional figure: -0.4%) in March 2024 from a month earlier.

Decreases in several branches due to much fewer large-scale orders, but increase in the automotive industry

New orders in April 2024 declined in four branches of manufacturing due to the significantly smaller number of large-scale orders compared with the previous month. This was particularly reflected in the 15.4% decrease of new orders in the manufacture of other transport equipment (aircraft, ships, trains) compared with March 2024, after seasonal and calendar adjustment. The declines witnessed in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (-5.1%), the manufacture of electrical equipment (-4.1%) and the manufacture of machinery and equipment (-1.5%) were also attributable to the lack of large-scale orders. By contrast, the increase in the automotive industry (+4.1%) had a positive impact on the overall result.

In April 2024, new orders were up on the previous month in both the capital goods sector (+0.5%) and the consumer goods sector (+0.7%). There was a drop of 1.7% in the intermediate goods sector, however.

Foreign orders fell by 0.1%. New orders from the euro area declined by 1.4%. By contrast, new orders from the non-euro area increased by 0.6%. Domestic orders declined by 0.3%.

Turnover in April 2024 down 0.9% on the previous month

According to provisional figures, real turnover in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) was down 0.9% in April 2024 from the previous month. The calendar adjusted turnover was 3.2% lower than in April 2023. After revision of the provisional data, there was a decrease of 0.4% in March 2024 from February 2024 (provisional figure: -0.7%).

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. The results of month-on-month, quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year comparisons may differ considerably due to the Covid-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine.

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 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 is also available on Dashboard Germany www.dashboard-deutschland.de (only in German). This data portal of the Federal Statistical Office combines up-to-date indicators from official statistics producers and other data providers on the topics of the economy, finance, health and mobility. The portal also contains the Economic Pulse Monitor tool (Pulsmesser für die Wirtschaft) (only in German) for real-time economic monitoring.