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GERMANY-ECONOMY-INDICATOR-MANUFACTURING
German industrial orders bounce back in May
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, July 5, 2018 (AFP) – Industrial orders in Germany
bounced back in May after a string of setbacks, official data showed
Thursday, suggesting Europe’s largest economy may not face the sharp slowdown
some observers feared.
New contracts at industrial firms grew 2.6 percent month-on-month in May,
federal statistics authority Destatis said in figures adjusted for price,
seasonal and calendar effects.
The performance beat expectations from analysts surveyed by data company
Factset, who had forecast 1.1 percent growth after four months of slips in a
row.
Orders from within Germany grew 4.3 percent and demand from the country’s
neighbours in the 19-nation eurozone added 6.7 percent.
But contracts from the rest of the world fell by 1.3 percent.
Meanwhile in different manufacturing sectors, consumer goods and capital
goods firms saw both saw orders increase just under 5.0 percent, while demand
for producer good fell back slightly.
Thursday’s positive data were “more evidence that the economy could rebound
during the second half of the year,” ING Diba bank economist Carsten Brzeski
commented.
Expansion in Germany halved quarter-on-quarter to 0.3 percent between
January and March, while confidence among consumers, investors and business
leaders has fallen back from the euphoric levels seen in late 2017.
But with a string of one-off knocks to the economy from winter weather to a
flu outbreak and and unfavourable holiday calendar, “it will take until June
before the economy will finally show its real face,” Brzeski said.
Explaining the slowdown in the first half of the year, the economy ministry
in Berlin pointed to “weakness in the global economy and uncertainty over
trade” as US President Donald Trump has lashed out at China and the European
Union with tariffs.
But “the business situation in industry should be on a slight upward trend
in the coming months,” the government economists predicted.
BSS/AFP/HR/1300