Preliminary results released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Thursday indicate that the real order backlog of German industry grew by 1.5 percent in July 2026 compared to June, after seasonal and calendar adjustments. Furthermore, when compared to the same month last year, the adjusted order backlog increased by 10.9 percent, allowing the total backlog to reach a new all-time high.
This record high is primarily attributed to strong activity in the Special Vehicle Construction sector-including aircraft, ships, trains, and military vehicles-where new orders have been increasing and manufacturing lead times are relatively long. However, if the Special Vehicle Construction segment were excluded from the calculation, the order backlog would be significantly below its peak level.
In July 2026, the overall trend was significantly supported by the 3.9 percent increase in Special Vehicle Construction (compared to the previous month, seasonally and calendar-adjusted). The Mechanical Engineering sector also positively contributed to the overall result, posting a 0.8 percent rise. In contrast, the automotive industry saw its order backlog decline by 1.7 percent.
Looking at specific order sources, domestic open orders rose by 3.0 percent in July 2026 compared to June, while orders from abroad experienced a slight increase of 0.6 percent. Breakdown by manufacturing type shows that the order backlog for producers of capital goods rose by 1.8 percent month-on-month, and for producers of intermediate goods, it rose by 0.6 percent. The order backlog for consumer goods, meanwhile, increased by 1.7 percent.
Finally, the average order coverage extended to 9.0 months in July 2026, marking the first increase in the time series since 2015 (up from 8.9 months in June 2026). For producers of intermediate goods, the coverage remained stable at 4.6 months compared to the previous month. The coverage for capital goods improved to 12.6 months (up from 12.4 months in June 2026), while the coverage for consumer goods held steady at 4.3 months.
