Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that price-adjusted new orders in manufacturing had increased in March 2017 a seasonally and working-day adjusted 1.0% on February 2017. For February 2017, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in an increase of 3.5% compared with January 2017 (primary +3.4%). Price-adjusted new orders without major orders in manufacturing had increased in March 2017 a seasonally and working-day adjusted 0.6% on February 2017.

In March 2017, domestic orders decreased by 3.8% while foreign orders increased by 4.8% on the previous month. New orders from the euro area were up 6.8% on the previous month, new orders from other countries increased 3.5% compared to February 2017.

In March 2017 the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders fall by 3.7% compared with February 2017. The manufacturers of capital goods showed increases of 3.7% on the previous month. For consumer goods, an increase in new orders of 5.5% was recorded.