Processing trade: German industry collects significantly more orders

The battered German industry surprisingly received a large number of new orders at the end of last year. In December, orders in the processing industry increased by 6.9 percent in the month comparison, as the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) in Wiesbaden announced. Analysts had expected an increase, but on average only an increase of 2.0 percent assumed.

However, large orders have distorted the development at the order intake. The orders without considering major orders in the month comparison would only have been 2.2 percent higher, as it was said in the message.

The ray of hope for the industrial sector, which is important for the German economy, followed after two setbacks in a row. In November, orders were still revised by 5.2 percent and 1.5 percent in October. In a long -term comparison, there is still weak development. In 2024, the companies in the processing industry collected a total of 3.0 percent fewer orders in the processing industry than in the previous year.

Expert speaks of edifying details

The development in December was also better than expected in December. In this consideration, the Federal Office reported a decline of 6.3 percent, while analysts had expected a minus of 10.5 percent.

The slow development in the industrial sector is one of the main reasons for the general economic weakness in Germany. Last year, the economic output of Europe’s largest economy shrank the second year in a row. Most recently, the federal government had significantly reduced its economic forecast for 2025. Accordingly, only a mini growth of 0.3 percent is expected – in autumn the government had expected a plus of the gross domestic product of 1.1 percent.

Thomas Gitzel, chief economist of VP Bank, spoke of a gratifying order plan at the end of the year – the details are also being built. “But the overall view of the past year is sobering – there was no trend change.”