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By Ed Frankl
German manufacturing orders jumped unexpectedly in December, driven by bumper aircraft purchases, although excluding larger orders they still fell, reflecting a difficult environment for the sector.
Orders were 8.9% higher than the previous month, German statistics office Destatis said Tuesday, flipping expectations that they would fall 0.5%, according to a consensus of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
It reverses many of the losses of previous months, including a 4% decline in October and a 11% dive in July, which were at the time seen as indicative of a manufacturing slump in Germany. On year, orders in December were 2.7% higher than the same month in 2022.
However, the intake was swayed by large-scale orders, in particular of aircraft, likely swelled by Airbus orders, according to Destatis. The airline manufacturer received 807 orders in the month.
For aircraft, ships and trains, incoming orders were more than twice as high in December as November. Metal products and electrical equipment orders also rose by double-digit percentages.
However, in the country’s key car industry, orders fell 15%, while they also dipped in mechanical engineering and in the chemical industry, according to the data. Excluding major purchases, orders fell by 2.2% on month.
Symbolizing Germany’s still-stuttering manufacturing base, orders were 5.9% lower in the whole of 2023 compared with 2022, Destatis said, amid a global slump in demand and tight financing conditions.
Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com
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