The FINANCIAL — Orders for Germany’s plant and machinery industry declined in April due to weak domestic demand and a sharp drop in orders from outside the eurozone, industry group VDMA said on June 1, according to Nasdaq.
The fluctuating demand indicates that the business cycle in mechanical engineering–the backbone of Europe’s largest economy–“has not really gained momentum,” said Ralph Wiechers, chief economist of VDMA, which represents more than 3,000 Mittelstand companies (small and medium-sized enterprises in German-speaking countries).
Total plant and machinery orders in April fell 2% from the year-earlier period; domestic orders declined 3% and foreign orders were down 2% on the year.
There was an opposing trend in demand from inside and outside the eurozone. Eurozone orders jumped 14% from April last year, but this wasn’t enough to compensate for a 7% drop in orders from outside the region, VDMA said.
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