Germany machinery orders’ decline slows in summer

New orders in the German mechanical engineering sector fell in July, but the pace of the decline slowed compared with previous months, Kallanish learns from the sector’s association VDMA.

Orders in July fell -3% short of the previous year’s level in real terms, with German domestic orders down -4%, and orders from abroad down -3%.  “This means that the July results were less disappointing, but that’s just a little breather. The trend continues to point downwards and business and export expectations remain pessimistic in view of the economic and political risks for the second half of the year,” says VDMA’s chief economist Ralph Wiechers.

The intake of orders from the Eurozone countries in July was positive, up 3% on the previous year. By contrast, orders from non-euro countries fell by -5%. In a three-month comparison from May to July 2019, orders were -8% lower in real terms than in the previous year. Both domestic and foreign orders were down -8%, with orders from eurozone countries down -9% and orders from non-eurozone countries down -7%.