Berlin — Germany’s industrial orders in November exceeded expectations due to rising demand from abroad. This is rare good news for manufacturers suffering from supply bottlenecks and labor shortages in Europe’s largest economy.
As federal statistics figures showed Thursday, commodity orders increased 3.7% a month on seasonally adjusted conditions after a revised decline of 5.8% in October. Analyst Reuters polls pointed out a 2.1 percent increase.
This rise was driven by a surge in foreign demand for capital and intermediate goods, with orders from other eurozone countries surged 13.1% and bookings from customers outside the single currency surged 5%.
“This provides a positive impetus for the economic outlook, although economic activity continues to be burdened by existing delivery bottlenecks,” the Ministry of Economy said.
In contrast to the previous month, orders for high-value items such as planes did not significantly affect the November headline numbers. Excluding this special factor, industrial orders increased by 3.8% in the same month, according to the ministry.
Alexander Krueger, an analyst at the private bank Hauck Aufhaeuser Lampe, said:
However, Kluger warned that supply chain problems are likely to continue into spring until delivery logistics works smoothly again.
The Institute of Economic Research predicts that the German economy will shrink in the last three months of 2021 and stagnate in the first three months of 2022, delaying recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Michael Nienaber
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