Factory orders in Germany fell for the sixth consecutive month as the Russia-Ukraine war suppressed domestic demand.
Germany’s Federal Statistical Office announced provisional data on factory orders for July.
Accordingly, orders for products manufactured in the country fell 1.1 percent in July compared to the previous month. These orders decreased by 13.6 percent compared to July 2021.
The market expectation for factory orders was that they would fall by 0.5 percent on a monthly basis.
In Germany, domestic orders decreased by 4.5 percent on a monthly basis in July, while foreign orders increased by 1.3 percent.
In the said period, new orders from the Eurozone fell by 6.4 percent compared to June, while orders from other countries to Germany increased by 6.5 percent.
Orders of intermediate goods producers increased by 1.5 percent on a monthly basis in July. Orders for capital goods fell 0.2 percent and orders for consumer goods producers fell 16.9 percent, as orders in the pharmaceutical industry fell 23.6 percent.
Factory orders in the country decreased by a revised 0.3 percent in June due to low foreign demand.
“Demand in the manufacturing sector was weak at the beginning of the third quarter due to the Russia-Ukraine war and high gas prices,” the German Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection said in a statement.
Economists say that the cooling global economy, material shortages and rising prices have reduced demand for German industrial goods, adding that rising energy costs could put pressure on the country’s manufacturing sector in particular.
