By Mucahithan Avcioglu
ISTANBUL (AA) - Germany's new factory orders rose unexpectedly in April, increasing by 4.8% year-on-year and 0.6% month-on-month, according to official data released Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
The increase defied market expectations, which had forecast a 1.5% monthly decline. Even after excluding large-scale orders, new orders still posted a 0.3% monthly gain, Destatis noted.
Several key sectors drove the improvement, with the manufacture of computer, electronic, and optical products seeing the sharpest increase — up 21.5% from the previous month. Orders in the transport equipment sector, which includes aircraft, ships, trains, and military vehicles, rose 7.1%, while fabricated metal product orders increased by 4.4%.
Conversely, orders in some sectors declined. Electrical equipment dropped 9.2%, and machinery and equipment manufacturing slipped by 4.2%. The pharmaceutical industry also saw a sharp reversal, with new orders down 14.2% in April after a 16.2% rise in March.
Capital goods orders rose by 4.1%, but orders for intermediate goods and consumer goods declined by 3.4% and 5.9%, respectively.
In terms of geography, domestic orders increased by 2.2%, while foreign orders fell 0.3%. Orders from within the eurozone rose by 0.5%, but those from non-eurozone countries dropped 0.9%.
The March monthly factory orders figure was revised down to 3.4% from an initial estimate of 3.6%.