Data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that factory orders increased by 3.2% in December after falling by 4.4% in November (revised from -5.3%). Economists had expected a 2% increase in orders. Meanwhile, excluding large-scale orders, factory orders decreased by 0.6% compared to November. Thus, the growth of orders in December was mainly due to large-scale orders. Destatis also said that compared to December 2021, factory orders fell by 10.1%, but still remain slightly above the level that existed before the coronavirus (+1.2% compared to December 2019).
In December, domestic factory orders increased by 5.7% compared to November, while foreign factory orders increased by 1.2%, helped by an increase in orders from the eurozone (+9.8%).
As for the sectors, factory orders in the capital goods sector did not change compared to November, while orders in the intermediate goods sector increased by 9.7%.. However, orders in the consumer goods sector decreased by 3.3%.