In March 2025, Germany's manufacturing sector saw a robust revival, with new orders rising by 3.6 percent month-over-month and 3.7 percent year-over-year, signalling a rebound in industrial demand after a flat February. Excluding large-scale orders, growth remained solid at 3.2 percent, suggesting broad-based improvements rather than one-off spikes.

Sectors such as pharmaceuticals (17.3 percent), electrical equipment (14.5 percent), and other transport equipment (13.0 percent) were key drivers, reflecting strong demand for high-tech and infrastructure-related goods. While the three-month trend still showed a 2.3 percent decline compared to the previous quarter, the exclusion of large-scale orders revealed a modest gain (0.5 percent), hinting at underlying momentum.

Foreign demand played a critical role, with euro area orders surging by 8.0 percent, reinforcing Europe's importance to Germany's export-led economy. Consumer goods orders also jumped (8.7 percent), potentially signalling improving household confidence. Meanwhile, manufacturing turnover increased by 2.2 percent in March, a welcome shift after modest gains earlier in the year. However, annual turnover remained slightly below March 2024 levels (minus 0.4 percent), suggesting some lingering caution. Indeed, the data paints a cautiously optimistic picture of manufacturing recovery in early 2025, driven by international demand and sector-specific dynamism.

Orders are seen up 1.0 percent on the month after no change on the month in February.

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.