Number of incoming orders to German mechanical engineering down by 16 percent

The current economic crisis has now reached German mechanical engineering. Nevertheless, the German association for mechanical and plant engineering (VDMA) believes that the situation is not hopelessly bad and sees even light at the horizon. Even though the order intake in October 2008 was 16% smaller than in October last year, this drop most of all relates to those sectors of mechanical engineering which had already problems before the current crisis. In some sectors the number of incoming orders increased at sometimes two-digit growth rates and was not affected at all by the current crisis.

Nevertheless, the situation in German mechanical is far from being optimal: the number of domestic orders fell by 10% and that from abroad by 19% as compared to October last year. In the three-month period from August to October 2008, which was less affected by short-term influences, the decrease in incoming orders amounted to 8% as compared to last year with domestic orders falling by 2% and those from abroad by 12%. GERMAN

Matomo