Overall, orders to industry fell by four percent in September.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin German industry suffered a slump in orders in September. The orders fell by 4.0 percent, as announced by the Federal Statistical Office on Friday.
Economists polled by the Reuters news agency had only expected a decline of 0.5 percent, after a revised 2.0 percent drop in August.
Without taking major orders into account, there was a decline of 3.9 percent in September. Compared to the same month last year, incoming orders were even 10.8 percent lower after calendar adjustments.
“However, the volume of incoming orders in September 2021 was exceptionally high due to catch-up effects due to corona combined with a severe shortage of preliminary products,” explained the Wiesbaden statisticians.
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“The soaring order intake, which had set in after the corona pandemic in the course of catch-up effects, seems to have come to an end,” added the Federal Ministry of Economics (BMWK). Incoming orders are now back to the level they were before the corona crisis.
Demand from abroad collapses
According to the BMWK, the decline compared to the previous month was due to a slump in foreign demand: while domestic orders were still slightly up, incoming orders from abroad fell by 6.3 percent in the non-euro area and 8.0 percent in the euro area. At industry level, strong declines in the two largest industrial sectors, motor vehicles (-9.0 percent) and mechanical engineering (-8.1 percent), hit the overall index.
The sluggish world economy, lack of materials and above all the energy crisis are currently affecting the industry. This is also shown by a company survey recently conducted by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK): The energy crisis is affecting the economy across almost all sectors.
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