German factory orders in May remained unchanged from the previous month, as a drop in domestic demand was offset by an increase in foreign orders, official data showed on Wednesday.
The zero-growth of new orders in May followed a revised drop of 1.9 percent in April, said German federal statistics office Destatis. Adjusted for seasonal and working-day swings, domestic orders decreased by 1.9 percent month on month, while foreign orders increased by 1.4 percent, led by a jump of 4 percent in orders from the eurozone.
"The orders in the manufacturing sector remained stable to date apart from monthly fluctuations," the German Economy Ministry said in a statement, "The business climate in manufacturing brightened recently again and indicated a continued solid performance."
However, economists said weak orders in recent months showed that industrial output would slow down in the second quarter, weighing on the overall economic growth. "The trend is obvious: the German industry is treading water," said Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING-DiBa bank.
Latest comments