In August 2025, Germany experienced a 0.8% decrease in factory orders compared to July, contrary to market predictions of a 1.4% increase. This decline follows a downward revision to a 2.7% drop in the previous month, marking the fourth consecutive month of decreases. This trend is mainly attributable to a significant downturn in the automotive sector, which saw orders fall by 6.4%. Other industries also faced challenges, with orders for data processing, electronic, and optical products dropping by 11.5%, and pharmaceuticals experiencing a 13.5% decline. However, there were areas of growth; orders for metal products surged by 15.4%, other transport equipment rose by 17.1%, and electrical equipment increased by 7.2%.
When analyzing the data by category, demand for capital goods and consumer goods saw reductions of 1.5% and 10.3%, respectively. In contrast, intermediate goods experienced a 3.0% increase in orders. On the international front, foreign orders decreased by 4.1%, with orders from non-euro area countries dropping by 5.0% and those from euro area countries decreasing by 2.9%. Domestic demand, however, improved, growing by 4.7%. Without considering large-scale contracts, the overall order decline was 3.3%. On a three-month moving average basis, factory orders were down 2.3% between June and August, underscoring ongoing challenges in the industrial sector.
