The preliminary data released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Monday shows that new orders in Germany’s manufacturing sector rose by 1.9 percent in May 2026 compared to April, after being adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects. When excluding large single contracts, the order intake was 1.0 percent higher than the previous month.
Looking at a three-month trend (March to May 2026), the overall order volume saw a slight decline of 0.2 percent compared to the preceding period; however, without factoring in major deals, this figure rose by 4.1 percent over the same span. Furthermore, following a revision of preliminary data, the order intake for April 2026 experienced a decrease of 3.2 percent when measured against March 2026 (the original preliminary value was -3.8 percent).
The strong performance in May is largely attributed to significant growth in other vehicle construction-including aircraft, ships, trains, and military vehicles-where new orders saw an 85.0 percent increase over the previous month due to several large contracts. Other contributing factors include increases in mechanical engineering (+3.7 percent) and electric equipment manufacturing (+5.7 percent). Conversely, the automotive industry registered a decline of 3.8 percent, and the production of data processing, electronic, and optical goods fell by 7.8 percent.
Across product types, order intake for capital goods was up 2.2 percent in May 2026, while intermediate goods rose by 1.4 percent. Consumer goods saw an increase of 2.4 percent.
Regarding international business, foreign orders climbed by 2.2 percent in May; this growth was driven by a significant 11.2 percent rise in Eurozone orders, counterbalanced by a 3.2 percent fall in orders from outside the Eurozone. Domestic orders increased by 1.3 percent.
In terms of revenue, preliminary figures indicate that real sales in the manufacturing industry were up 1.8 percent in May compared to April after seasonal and calendar adjustments. When compared to May 2025, sales rose 4.2 percent after calendar adjustment. For April 2026, the revised data confirmed an increase of 0.1 percent over March 2026.
