German industrial orders go into reverse in October
Last updated on: 06 December,2021 02:18 pm
Orders for capital goods fell 10.7 percent.
FRANKFURT (AFP) - German industrial orders dropped significantly in October after a revival in September, official figures showed Monday, as continuing supply issues bedevilled industry.
The federal statistics office Destatis calculated that industrial orders in Europe’s largest economy fell by 6.9 percent in October compared with the previous month, after a small 1.8 percent rise in September.
The indicator, which gives a foretaste of industrial production, was also down one percent on the previous year, the first annual fall since September 2020.
Orders for capital goods fell 10.7 percent, while those for intermediate goods fell 2.7 percent compared with the previous month.
Only orders of consumer goods rose, growing 4.3 percent on September.
International demand suffered particularly in October, with orders from outside the European Union down 18.1 percent, while domestic orders were 3.4 percent higher than in September.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to disruptions in supply chains across the globe, causing shortages of everything from wood to semiconductors.
These widespread bottlenecks were "slowing German industry in 2021", Destatis concluded.
The figures were a "cold shower for German industry", said Carsten Brzeski, head of macro at ING.
The pandemic-related backlog meant that "order books are still well filled", Brzeski said.
Improvements in the supply situation would lead to an "immediate boost" in production, but "the summer collapse of industrial orders does not bode well for the medium-term outlook for industrial production", Brzeski said.