Economy
Foreign business saves the mechanical engineering monthly balance sheet
The order books of the German mechanical engineers fill significantly more orders from the euro partners. Despite the export -oriented industry – despite growing trade conflicts.
Germany’s mechanical engineers hope that the foreign orders are stabilized. In the new orders in January, the machine and plant builders narrowly missed the result of the previous year’s month, as the VDMA industry association in Frankfurt reports. A minus of two percent resulted in price adjusted.
“The international orders were again stabilizing,” summarizes the Association of German Machine and Plant Construction (VDMA). While the orders from the Euro partner countries increased by 13 percent compared to January 2024, the orders from non-euro foreign countries decreased by 5 percent. Overall, orders in abroad stagnated.
“Although uncertainties in geo- and trade policy as well as the tense economic situation in numerous customer industries are pressing globally on the investment mood,” analyzes VDMA chief host Ralph Wiechers. But after the orders from the non-euro room had increased in two digits in December, the orders from the euro neighboring countries did so in January.
Shops in Germany continue to weaken
“In contrast, the declining domestic business is still worried,” says Wiechers. The order volume from Germany remained six percent below the previous year in January.
For the more meaningful three-month period of November 2024 to January 2025, there was even a minus of ten percent in domestic business, while companies were able to record one percent more orders abroad.
In 2024, the industry, which is more than a million employees in Germany, had to cope with order declines in the second year in a row.
dpa
Source: Stern
