In February 2025, Germany's manufacturing sector exhibited stabilisation, with new orders remaining flat month-over-month (0.0 percent) and slightly down by 0.2 percent year-over-year. Although this follows a sharp 5.5 percent contraction in January, revisions to previous data suggest a milder downturn than initially feared. Beneath the main indicators, sector-specific contrasts emerged. Capital goods orders rose 1.5 percent, buoyed by demand in machinery (3.4 percent), transport equipment (3.8 percent) and automotive (0.6 percent). However, steep declines in fabricated metal products (minus 7.4 percent), electrical equipment (minus 5.3 percent) and pharmaceuticals (minus 5.9 percent) dampened overall momentum.

Geographically, foreign demand drove resilience, especially from non-Euro Area countries (3.4 percent), offsetting a 3.0 percent decline within the Eurozone and a 1.2 percent fall in domestic orders. Meanwhile, the volatile nature of large-scale orders masked a modest underlying growth of 0.4 percent over the past three months. Turnover increased slightly (0.2 percent), although it remained 2.9 percent below the level from the same period last year. Overall, February points to a tentative stabilisation amid persistent fragility and uneven sectoral recovery. This latest update leaves the RPI at minus 23 and the RPI-P at minus 18, meaning that economic activities continue to remain well behind schedule in Germany.

Manufacturers orders are a leading indicator for industrial production. The figures are calculated every month by the Federal Statistical Office and represent the value of all orders for the delivery of self-made products confirmed by industrial enterprises with 50 or more employees in the respective reporting period. The results are broken down by both sector and region of origin (domestic and foreign split into euro area and non-euro area). Monthly volatility can be very high so moving averages give a much better guide to underlying trends.

Manufacturers orders data are keenly awaited by analysts each month. The data present a detailed breakdown by various sectors and a reading of the pulse of a major sector of the economy. Like the PPI, manufacturing orders data exclude construction, which is the preferred Eurostat measure.

The manufacturers orders data rank among the most important early indicators for monitoring and analyzing German economic wellbeing. Because these data are available for both foreign and domestic orders they are a good indication of the relative strength of the domestic and export economies. The results are compiled each month in the form of value indexes to measure the nominal development of demand and in the form of volume indexes to illustrate the price-adjusted development of demand. Unlike in the U.S., orders data are not collected for all manufacturing classifications - but only those parts in which the make-to-order production plays a prominent role. Not included are, for example, mining, quarrying and the food industry.