Data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed that factory orders increased by 3.7% in November, partially offsetting a decrease of 5.8% (revised from -6.9%) in October. Economists had expected a more moderate increase - by 2.1%. Meanwhile, excluding large orders, factory orders rose by 3.8 in November.
The data also showed that, in annual terms, factory orders increased by 1.3%, while from the beginning of 2021 (through November), orders increased by 18.8% per annum. Compared to February 2020 (before the outbreak of the pandemic), factory orders increased by 6.6%.
The catalyst for the increase in orders in November was the production of other transport equipment (aircraft, ships, trains, etc.). Orders for the production of cars, trailers and semi-trailers increased by 7.0%. Foreign orders also increased markedly - by 8.0%. Meanwhile, domestic orders increased by 2.5% compared to October.
The growth of orders was also recorded in the intermediate production sector (+1.2%), the capital goods production sector (+5.3%), and the consumer goods production sector (+3.8%).