Germany's factory orders fell more than forecast in April

According to the report from Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the new orders in manufacturing in Germany decreased significantly again in April 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic after they had fallen markedly already in March. 

Real (price adjusted) new orders decreased by a seasonally and calendar adjusted 25.8% in April 2020 compared with March 2020. This is the largest decline since the beginning of the time series in January 1991. Economists had expected a 19.7% decrease. Compared with April 2019, the decrease in calendar adjusted new orders amounted to 36.6%. Excluding major orders, real new orders in manufacturing seasonally and calendar adjusted were 25.1% lower than in the previous month.

Domestic orders decreased by 22.3% and foreign orders fell by 28.1% in April 2020 on the previous month. New orders from the euro area went down 30.6%, and new orders from other countries decreased by 26.7% compared with March 2020.

In April 2020 the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders decrease by 22.7% compared with March 2020. The manufacturers of capital goods saw a decrease of 30.6% on the previous month. Regarding consumer goods, new orders fell 11.4%.

For March 2020, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in a decrease of 15.0% compared with February 2020 (provisional: -15.6%).