ZCZC
BCN-16
GERMAN-INDUSTRIAL-MANUFACTURING
German industrial orders rise in August
BERLIN, Oct. 6, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – New orders received in Germany’s
industrial manufacturing sector rose in August after several months of
decline, official figures by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed
on Friday.
According to the Office, industrial orders were up by a price- and
seasonally-adjusted rate of 2.0 percent in August compared to the previous
month.
Although new orders were 2.1 percent lower compared to August 2017, the
figure marked the reversal of an earlier trend of monthly decline, which was
largely attributed to uncertainty in the global economy due to growing
protectionism. Excluding major orders, which can lead to short-term
distortions of the data compiled by the Office, seasonally- and price-
adjusted industrial orders in August increased by a monthly rate of 3.3
percent.
Broken down by regions, the figures reflected strong international demand
from non-Eurozone countries that was offsetting falling ones within the
single currency area and Germany itself. Domestic German and Eurozone orders
declined by 2.9 percent and 2.2 percent respectively compared to July, while
orders from the rest of the world soared by 11.1 percent during the same
period.
The producers of capital goods were the best performing individual
industrial sector for new orders (3.4 percent) in August, ahead of consumer
goods producers (2.1 percent) and intermediate goods producers (0.1 percent).
Speaking to Xinhua on Friday, Thiess Petersen, Senior economics expert at
the Guetersloh-based Bertelsmann Foundation, said that the latest figures
offered a “small positive signal” after several previous months in which
industrial orders had declined. He noted that the increase in August was
reflective of improved expectations for economic growth in Germany measured
in recent surveys.
For Petersen, the enhanced performance of the sector in August was mainly
due to the temporary de-escalation of ongoing trade conflicts.
At the same time, however, Petersen cautioned that there were still “many
remaining growth risks” which could still upset the recovery of German
industrial orders. “It is still unclear how the economic relationships
(between the EU and Britain) will look after Brexit at the end of March
2019,” he warned.
Ongoing “economic turbulences” in Turkey were a further development of
concern to investors and companies cited by Petersen. As a consequence,
uncertainty over the continued economic development of Germany and Europe
generally remained high.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1200