Orders for German factories plunged 10.7% in March, the biggest drop since the pandemic

MADRID, 5 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Factory orders in Germany registered a 10.7% drop in March in relation to the previous month, when they increased by 4.5%, which represents the largest monthly drop since April 2020, when restrictions were implemented for contain the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Excluding large orders, there was a 7.7% decrease in March 2023 compared to the previous month.

Also, compared to March last year, new orders from German industry experienced a decline of 11%, after the year-on-year drop of 6% observed in February.

"Considering the first quarter of the year 2023, new orders were 0.2% higher than those of the last quarter of the previous year," said the German statistical office.

"The negative trend of new orders is visible in most of the economic sectors in manufacturing," added Destatis, who highlighted the impact on the general reading of the fall in the vehicle construction sector (shipbuilding, vehicles on rails, aircraft, spacecraft and military vehicles), where new orders decreased by 47.4% in March 2023 compared to the previous month.

On the other hand, new orders in the capital goods sector decreased by 14.1% and in the intermediate goods area by 7.5% in March 2023 compared to the previous month, while new orders in the consumer goods increased by 1.2%.

Likewise, foreign orders sank 13.3%, with a drop in new orders from the rest of the world of 14.8% and 10.8% in the case of orders from the euro area. Domestic orders fell 6.8% from the previous month.