German manufacturing orders saw a modest increase in May 2025, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the Statistical Federal Office (Destatis). The volume of real orders received in the manufacturing sector rose by 0.4 percent compared to April, after seasonal and calendar adjustments. Year-on-year, orders increased by 4.7 percent when calendar effects are factored in.
The slight gain compared to the previous month was primarily driven by a positive trend in the “Other Transport Equipment” sector, encompassing aircraft, ships, trains and military vehicles, which experienced a rise of 2.1 percent after seasonal and calendar adjustments. Growth in the production of metal products (+2.4 percent) also contributed to the overall increase. However, a contraction in the automotive industry (-1.4 percent) exerted a downward influence on the aggregate results.
The volume of unfilled orders from domestic sources decreased by 0.3 percent in May compared to April. Conversely, orders originating from abroad rose by 0.8 percent.
Within manufacturing sub-sectors, producers of intermediate goods saw a decrease in order backlogs, down by 0.2 percent. Manufacturers of capital goods recorded an increase of 0.6 percent, while producers of consumer goods saw a rise of 0.3 percent.
The order backlog ratio, a measure of how long current orders would take to fulfill, remained unchanged at 7.8 months for the overall manufacturing sector. Capital goods producers maintained a backlog ratio of 10.7 months, while producers of intermediate goods and consumer goods remained steady at 4.3 and 3.6 months respectively.
