German Factory Orders Log Sharp Decline

(RTTNews) - Germany's factory orders declined sharply in January as major orders came to their normal levels after registering a remarkable growth, official data revealed Thursday.

New orders in manufacturing posted a monthly decline of 11.3 percent, in contrast to the 12.0 percent increase in December, Destatis reported. Economists had forecast a 6.0 percent fall.

Destatis said the sharp decline in January was due to the high volume of large orders in December 2023.

Foreign orders fell 11.4 percent and domestic orders declined 11.2 percent.

Orders for capital goods and intermediate goods fell 13.1 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively. Consumer goods orders posted a fall of 5.7 percent.

In a less volatile three-month comparison, incoming orders during November to January were 2.3 percent higher than in the previous three months.

On a yearly basis, new orders decreased 6.0 percent, reversing December's 6.6 percent rise, data showed.

Further, manufacturing turnover dropped 2.0 percent in January, in contrast to the 1.3 percent increase in December. Compared to January last year, manufacturing turnover slid 3.5 percent.

Foreign trade data, released Wednesday, was a sigh of relief but today's figure again highlighted the fragile nature. In January, exports rebounded 6.3 percent and imports gained 3.6 percent.

In February, the Bundesbank said the German economy likely entered a recession with the second straight quarter of contraction at the start of 2024.

That said, the bank said a broad-based and a long-lasting downturn in not currently expected.

The ifo Institute on Wednesday downgraded Germany's growth projection for this year to 0.2 percent from 0.9 percent. The think tank observed that the German economy is paralyzed as higher interest rates and fiscal policies hurt recovery.

The ifw-Kiel Institute said Germany's exit from the economic slump will take more time with a moderate recovery expected to start later this year.

The think tank lowered the German growth forecast for this year to 0.1 percent from 0.9 percent, and expects 1.2 percent expansion next year.

Elsewhere, the economic institute DIW Berlin today said the economic output will continue to shrink in the current quarter and stagnate in the whole year of 2024. The think tank forecast GDP to advance 1.2 percent in 2025.