Germany's factory orders rose more than expected in October

According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), real (price adjusted) new orders increased by a seasonally and calendar adjusted 2.9% in October 2020 compared with September 2020. Economists had expected a 1.5% increase.

Compared with October 2019, the increase in calendar adjusted new orders amounted to +1.8%. Excluding major orders, real new orders in manufacturing (seasonally and calendar adjusted) were 1.7% higher than in the previous month.

Compared with February 2020, the month before restrictions were imposed due to the corona pandemic in Germany, new orders in October 2020 were 0.8% higher in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms. In the largest branch of manufacturing, the automotive industry, new orders still increased in October 2020 (+1.0% on the previous month) and were 6.0% above the pre-crisis level of February 2020.

Domestic orders increased by 2.4% and foreign orders increased by 3.2% in October 2020 on the previous month. New orders from the euro area went up 0.5%, and new orders from other countries increased by 4.8% compared with September 2020.

In October 2020, the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders increase by 2.3% compared with September 2020. The manufacturers of capital goods saw an increase of 3.8% on the previous month. Regarding consumer goods, new orders fell 2.2%.

For September 2020, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in an increase of 1.1% compared with August 2020 (provisional: +0.5%). The reason was late reporting, for instance, on major orders in the manufacture of air and spacecraft.