According to calculations by the Federal Statistical Office the German industry received 1.7% less orders in July as compared to June this year. In June the drop had been even bigger with the number of orders falling by 2.6%. The percentage of major orders was even quite high in July. The decline is due to less demand from within Germany. While foreign demand increased slightly by 0.3% domestic orders were down by 3.6%.
With regard to foreign orders those received from the Eurozone increased by 8.1% while those from outside the Eurozone fell by 5.7%.
All major lines of industry suffered from this drop in orders. While the orders to the manufacturers of intermediate inputs fell only slightly by -0.2 % the order volume received by the investment and consumer good industry decreased by 2.4 % and 3.1 % respectively.
Taking into account the two-month period June/July as compared to the period April/May demand for industrial goods fell by 4.0%. There was a big drop in both domestic and foreign demand by -3.8% and -4.3% respectively. Foreign demand from countries outside the Eurozone fell by -6.5% while that from within the Eurozone decreased more slightly by -1.3%. Among major lines of industry producers of investment goods suffered the biggest drop in demand (-5.9%) while manufacturers of intermediate inputs and consumer goods had to put up with -2.0% and -1.0% less orders.
Based on the current data the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs predicts the order volume to continue falling. In the long run foreign demand is said to fall even more than that from within Germany which is also going to decrease significantly. According to the Ministry this slack period is going to last for several months. This is also signalled by the less optimistic prospects for the German economy as a whole.
Additional information can be retrieved from a table by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs. 