GERMAN industrial orders fell for the third month in a row in April, official data published today showed, as Russia’s war in Ukraine dampened the outlook for Europe’s largest economy.

New orders fell by 2.7% over the previous month, according to figures provided by the Economy Ministry. 

The renewed drop was “primarily due to the escalation of the Ukraine conflict”, the ministry said in a statement. 

Overall, incoming orders were 6.2% below their level of a year ago, when the coronavirus pandemic was weighing more heavily on industry.

The fall was seen particularly in capital goods, used in production, which decreased 4.3% compared with the previous month. 

Orders for consumer goods were down 2.6%, while those of intermediate goods dipped 0.3%.

Within Germany, the incoming volume of orders fell by 0.9%, while those from abroad fell by 4%, with demand from the eurozone suffering in particular, down 5.6%.

Some sectors saw their volumes increase despite the overall downwards trend, with orders in mechanical engineering up 3.8%. 

By contrast, Germany’s flagship auto industry struggled, with orders down 8.6% month-on-month.

Industry continued to have “full order books” despite the recent slowdown, the ministry said.

The outlook for the economy was, nonetheless, “weaker in the coming months”, it said.

In late April, the German government cut its forecast for growth this year to 2.2% from its previous estimate of 3.6%. – AFP, June 7, 2022.