According to the German Association for mechanical and plant engineering (VDMA) orders received in this field were down by 5% in real terms in June this year as compared to June 2007. Even though the number of orders received from within Germany increased by 1%, that of foreign orders fell by 7% as compared to June 2007. Seen over the three-months period from April to June 2008 there was an order plus of 5% as compared to the same period in 2007.
The increase over this 3-months period comprises a plus of 2% in terms of domestic orders and an increase of 6% with regard to orders from abroad.
According to Dr. Ralph Wiechers, senior economist with the VDMA, the orders received in June will fill a production period of 6.5 months. However, he warned: “While production and turnover are continuously on the rise, the order intake once again was affected by slowing global economy and other untoward events in the business with investment goods.” An order increase by 4% at the middle of 2008, however, was still something quite positive in his opinion. 