Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that price-adjusted new orders in manufacturing had decreased in April 2018 a seasonally and calendar adjusted 2.5% on the previous month. For March 2018, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in a decrease of 1.1% compared with February 2018 (primary -0.9%). Price-adjusted new orders without major orders in manufacturing had decreased in April 2018 a seasonally and calendar adjusted 1.7% on the previous month.

Domestic orders decreased by 4.8% and foreign orders decreased by 0.8% in April 2018 on the previous month. New orders from the euro area were down 9.9%, new orders from other countries increased 5.4% compared to March 2018.

In April 2018 the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders rise by 2.5% compared with March 2018. The manufacturers of capital goods showed decreases of 5.6% on the previous month. For consumer goods, a decrease in new orders of 2.2% was recorded.