As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on the basis of provisional data, the manufacturing sector saw new orders unchanged in real terms adjusted for seasonally fluctuations and working-day variations in May 2016 compared with April 2016. For April 2016, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in a decrease of 1.9% compared with March 2016 (primary -2.0%). Price-adjusted new orders without major orders in manufacturing had increased in May 2016 a seasonally and working-day adjusted 0.5% on April 2016.

In May 2016, domestic orders decreased by 1.9%, while foreign orders increased by 1.4% on the previous month. New orders from the euro area were up 4.0% on the previous month, while new orders from other countries decreased by 0.3% compared to April 2016.

In May 2016 the manufacturers of intermediate goods fell 2.9%, while the manufacturers of capital goods showed an increase of 1.9% on the previous month. For consumer goods, a decrease in new orders of 0.4% was recorded.