Germany's engineering body (VDMA) said, in November, incoming orders in the mechanical engineering sector in Germany fell by 15 percent in real terms compared with the previous year. While orders from domestic customers fell by 15 percent, foreign customers ordered 14 percent fewer machines.

From the EURO partner countries 11 percent fewer orders came in, for the non-euro countries a minus of 16 percent is on the books.

"This means that the negative trend of recent months is continuing," says VDMA Chief Economist Dr. Ralph Wiechers. "When assessing the current figures, it must of course be taken into account that the bar for comparison with the previous year is still relatively high.

In the three-month period from September to November 2019, the decline in incoming orders amounts to a total of 10 per cent (domestic minus 12 percent, foreign minus 9 percent). From the EURO countries, the decline was minus 5 percent, from the non-euro area minus 10 percent.