Orders placed with companies in the German manufacturing sector were up strongly in August after already rising the previous month, confirming the robust health of the key industrial sector, official data showed on Oct. 6. The Economy Ministry calculated that German manufacturing orders jumped by 3.7% on a 12-month basis in August, continuing on a rise of 2.1% in July.
The ministry attributed the strong rise to an above-average number of big-ticket orders in August, particularly for capital goods. "Both domestic and foreign demand for industrial products has picked up again sharply in recent months," the ministry said.
The outlook for the manufacturing sector will continue to be benefit from increased investment in the coming months, the ministry said.
A sector breakdown showed that orders placed with manufacturers of capital goods jumped by 5.9% on a 12 month basis in August, while orders for both consumer and semi-finished goods were up by 1.4%.
Using a two-month comparison to iron out seasonal fluctuations, German manufacturing orders increased by 4.3% in July and August combined from the figure for May and June.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006
