According to preliminary data from Destatis, the price-adjusted volume of orders received in the manufacturing sector rose by 5.0 percent in March 2026 compared to February 2026, when adjusting for season and calendar effects.
When large orders are excluded, the order intake was 5.1 percent higher than the previous month, reaching its highest level since February 2023. However, when looking at the less volatile three-month comparison, the order intake for the first quarter of 2026 was 4.1 percent lower than that of the fourth quarter of 2025. This quarterly decline was primarily due to an exceptionally high volume of major orders recorded at the end of 2025. Without accounting for these large deals, the three-month order intake still rose by 1.6 percent. Furthermore, following revisions to preliminary figures, the order intake for February 2026 was 1.4 percent higher than January 2026 (up from 0.9 percent preliminary value).
The positive development of new orders in March 2026 was distributed across nearly all economic sub-sectors. The strongest contributors to the overall result were increases in the production of electrical equipment (up 21.5 percent year-on-year, adjusted for season and calendar effects), machinery (+6.9 percent), and the manufacturing of data processing equipment, electronic, and optical products (+14.4 percent).
By goods type, the order intake for capital goods rose by 2.1 percent, while pre-intermediate goods saw a significant jump of 9.2 percent compared to the previous month. Consumer goods orders climbed by 7.3 percent.
In international sales, orders increased by 5.6 percent, boosted by demand from the Eurozone, which posted a 10.1 percent rise, and from countries outside the Eurozone, which increased by 2.7 percent. Domestic orders rose more moderately by 4.0 percent.
Turning to overall revenue, the real turnover in the manufacturing sector was 0.7 percent higher in March 2026 than in the previous month, adjusted for season and calendar effects. Compared to the corresponding month last year (March 2025), turnover was 2.0 percent lower, adjusted for calendar effects. Separately, the Federal Statistical Office reported that the figure for February 2026 showed a contraction of 1.3 percent compared to January 2026 (down from a preliminary figure of -0.5 percent).
