Based on provisional data, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that price-adjusted new orders in manufacturing had increased in March 2019 a seasonally and calendar adjusted 0.6% on the previous month. Economists had expected a 1.5% increase.

For February 2019, revision of the preliminary outcome resulted in a decrease of 4.0% compared with January 2019 (provisional: -4.2%). Price-adjusted new orders without major orders in manufacturing had decreased in March 2019 a seasonally and calendar adjusted 1.9% on the previous month.

Domestic orders decreased by 4.2% and foreign orders rose by 4.2% in March 2019 on the previous month. New orders from the euro area were up 8.6%, new orders from other countries increased 1.4% compared to February 2019.

In March 2019 the manufacturers of intermediate goods saw new orders fall by 1.5% compared with February 2019. The manufacturers of capital goods showed increases of 1.1% on the previous month. For consumer goods, an increase in new orders of 6.4% was recorded.