Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that price-adjusted new orders in manufacturing had increased in May 2017 a seasonally and working-day adjusted 1.0% on the previous month. For April 2017, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in a decrease of 2.2% compared with March 2017 (primary -2.1%). Price-adjusted new orders without major orders in manufacturing had decreased in May 2017 a seasonally and working-day adjusted 0.3% on the previous month.

In May 2017, domestic orders decreased by 1.9% while foreign orders increased by 3.1% on the previous month. New orders from the euro area were up 1.7%, new orders from other countries increased 4.0% compared to April 2017.

In May 2017 the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders fall by 0.7% compared with April 2017. The manufacturers of capital goods showed increases of 2.6% on the previous month. For consumer goods, a decrease in new orders of 2.9% was recorded.