German factory orders rose sharply in March

According to provisional results of the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), real (price adjusted) new orders increased by a seasonally and calendar adjusted 3.0% in March 2021 compared with February 2021. Economists had expected a 1.7% increase. Excluding major orders, real new orders in manufacturing were 1.6% higher than in the previous month.

Compared with February 2020, which was the month before restrictions were imposed due to the corona pandemic in Germany, new orders in March 2021 were 9.1% higher in seasonally and calendar adjusted terms.

Domestic orders increased by 4.9% and foreign orders went up by 1.6% in March 2021 on the previous month. New orders from the euro area increased 0.7%, and new orders from other countries rose by 2.2% compared with February 2021.

In March 2021, the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders increase by 2.8% compared with February 2021. The manufacturers of capital goods saw an increase of 2.5% on the previous month. Regarding consumer goods, new orders rose by 8.5%.

For February 2021, the revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in an increase of 1.4% compared with January 2021 (provisional: +1.2%).