Konjunktur: Deutsche Industrie mit drittem Auftragsplus in Folge

Beginning of the second half of the year, the orders situation of German industry surprisingly improved significantly. Foreign orders grew by 2.5% in July compared to the previous month, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Friday, while economists surveyed by Reuters had only expected a 0.3% increase. This is already the third consecutive rise in orders.

Compared to the previous year, orders rose by 13.1%. The positive development in July is almost entirely due to the "Other vehicle manufacturing" sector, which includes aircraft, ships, trains, and military vehicles. Due to an exceptionally high volume of large orders, particularly in ship, rail, and aircraft manufacturing, orders in this sector more than doubled (+126.4% compared to the previous month).

The government is investing billions from the special reserve in defense. "One could almost say that there is a special boom," said economist Jens-Oliver Niklasch from the Baden-Württemberg State Bank (LBBW). Meanwhile, the automotive industry reported a 12.5% drop in orders. Foreign orders fell by 2.1% compared to the previous month, while orders from the rest of the world fell by 10.1%.

Inland orders grew by 9.1%. Over the three-month period from May to July, orders were 2.9% higher than in the previous three months without the large orders, while excluding large orders, they fell by 2.2%. "Large orders have been keeping the orders situation ticking for a long time, the fiscal package is looking promising," said the chief economist at BANK HAL Bethmann, Alexander Krüger.

"But it remains true that without large orders, little happens." In July, revenues fell, with the inflation-adjusted turnover in the manufacturing sector down 1.5% compared to the previous month. Leading institutes have recently raised their growth forecasts for the German economy thanks to surprisingly strong exports. For example, the Ifo Institute now expects a 1.4% increase in gross domestic product for 2026, up from the previous forecast of a 0.8% increase.