According to the report from Destatis, price-adjusted new orders in manufacturing had decreased in December 2018 a seasonally and calendar adjusted 1.6% on the previous month. Economists had expected a 0.3% increase.

For November 2018, major orders were reported subsequently. Revision of the preliminary data resulted in a decrease of 0.2% for November 2018 compared to October 2018 (primary: -1.0%). Price-adjusted new orders without major orders in manufacturing had increased in December 2018 a seasonally and calendar adjusted 3.5% on the previous month.

Domestic orders decreased by 0.6% and foreign orders fell by 2.3% in December 2018 on the previous month. New orders from the euro area were up 3.2%, new orders from other countries decreased 5.5% compared to November 2018.

In December 2018 the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders fall by 1.2% compared with November 2018. The manufacturers of capital goods showed decreases of 2.5% on the previous month. For consumer goods, an increase in new orders of 4.2% was recorded.