FRANKFURT – German industrial orders dropped significantly in October after a revival in September, official figures showed today, as continuing supply issues bedevilled industry.
Federal statistics office Destatis calculated that industrial orders in Europe’s largest economy fell by 6.9% in October compared with the previous month, after a small 1.8% rise in September.
The indicator, which gives a foretaste of industrial production, was also down 1% in the previous year, the first annual fall since September last year.
Orders for capital goods fell 10.7%, while those for intermediate goods fell 2.7% compared with the previous month.
Only orders of consumer goods rose, growing 4.3% in September.
International demand suffered particularly in October, with orders from outside the European Union down 18.1%, while domestic orders were 3.4% higher than in September.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to disruptions in supply chains across the globe, causing shortages of everything from wood to semiconductors.
These widespread bottlenecks were “slowing German industry this year”, Destatis noted.
The figures were a “cold shower for German industry”, said Carsten Brzeski, head of macro at ING.
The pandemic-related backlog meant that “order books are still well filled”, Brzeski said.
Improvements in the supply situation would lead to an “immediate boost” in production, but “the summer collapse of industrial orders does not bode well for the medium-term outlook for industrial production”, Brzeski said. – AFP, December 6, 2021
