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German industrial orders fall amid sluggish foreign trade

Timothy Jones
August 19, 2024

The latest German economic statistics have again brought little good news for manufacturers. Exports and imports have declined year-on-year, and industrial orders decreased for the sixth month running.

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Scene in VW factory
The automotive sector saw a decline in orders in the first half of 2024Image: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/picture alliance

Germany's economy remains lethargic, figures released on Monday by the Federal Statistical Office have shown.

Not only did industrial orders in June fall for the sixth month in succession but exports and imports both decreased in the first half of the year in a year-on-year comparison.

Decreasing order backlog

German manufacturers saw a 0.2% decrease in orders in June, in price-adjusted terms, compared with the previous month, and a 6.2% decrease from June last year, Destatis said.

The worst-hit sectors were mechanical engineering and the automotive branch, which declined 0.9% and 0.7% respectively contrasted with May.

The automotive sector has now seen its 17th monthly decrease in a row.

Unfulfilled orders from domestic customers were up 0.6% in June, the first rise in four months, but orders from abroad were down 0.7%.

Foreign trade malaise

The first half of the year also saw a decrease in both exports and imports.

Exports declined by 1.6% compared with the same period last year, reaching a volume of €801.7 billion ($885.2 billion), while imports dropped year-on-year by 6.2% to €662.8 billion.

The export drop was particularly pronounced in some of Germany's key industrial sectors.

The value of exported cars and car parts fell by 2.4%, and machinery goods decreased by 4.4%. Exports of chemical products also dropped by 4.4%.

Those sectors, however also saw the biggest trade surpluses of €62.3 billion for the automotive sector and €59.7 billion for machinery goods.

Import surpluses were seen in the oil and gas trade (€32.5 billion) and that with agricultural products (€13.9 billion).

The United States remained the biggest buyer of German goods, ahead of France and the Netherlands, while most imports to Germany were from China.

This article draws on reporting from the dpa news agency

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