Industry - Mechanical engineering with fewer orders in May
The machine builders in Baden-Württemberg had to accept significant losses at the order intake again. After the growth in April, orders were actually 9 percent lower in real terms (price-adjusted) in May than the previous year, as the VDMA branch office in Stuttgart reports. The decline in the domestic market was 5 percent less than the order losses in foreign business, which amounted to 11 percent.
The investment holding pattern continues. "The order intake in machinery and plant engineering is still subject to strong monthly fluctuations. Unfortunately, there is a lack of impulses for investments, which the machinery industry is suffering from", said VDMA managing director Dietrich Birk.
In the less volatile three-month period from March to May 2024, orders fell back by 13 percent in real terms compared to the previous year. Domestic business cut back by 8 percent, and there were 15 percent fewer orders from abroad.
The machinery industry, which is traditionally middle class in Germany and employs over a million people, had already felt the weakness of the global economy and the economic slump in the domestic market in the current year. The machinery industry association expects production to decline in the current year.
In Baden-Württemberg, the heartland of Germany's mechanical engineering industry, the decrease in incoming orders resulted in significant losses. According to the VDMA branch office in Stuttgart, the decline in orders was 9% lower in real terms in May compared to the previous year. The managing director of VDMA, Dietrich Birk, attributed the ongoing monthly fluctuations in orders to a lack of investment impulses, impacting the machinery industry.
