Frankfurt Am Main: Industrial orders in Europe’s largest economy Germany jumped in December, data released Monday showed, beating predictions and suggesting that economic good times will continue into 2017.
Firms received 5.2 per cent more orders in the final month of last year, correcting for seasonal effects, the federal statistics office Destatis said.
Analysts surveyed by Factset had predicted the figure would creep up by 0.7 per cent.
Most of December’s boost was down to large contracts, with the increase at just 0.4 per cent if they were excluded.
Destatis also released updated data showing that a fall in industrial orders in November had been sharper than expected, at 3.6 per cent rather than 2.5 per cent.
All of December’s rise in contracts came from industrial goods makers, whose order books expanded 9.7 per cent while producer goods and consumer goods both fell back slightly.
Domestic demand was the most powerful driver of the increase, adding 6.7 per cent over November compared with 3.9 per cent for foreign contracts.
Orders from Germany’s Eurozone neighbours grew by 10 per cent, while custom from the rest of the world remained flat.
“The trend in orders continues to point upwards,” the economy ministry in Berlin commented, pointing to a “strong increase” in the final quarter of 2017.
“This signals a further enlivening of industrial activity over the winter half year,” the ministry statement continued.
“With today’s December data, the entire year has all of a sudden become the best year for new orders since 2010,” analyst Carsten Brzeski of ING Diba bank said.
“The coming months will definitely bring some negative surprises,” he went on, pointing to the start of Brexit negotiations and an unpredictable Trump administration in the United States.
Even so, “today’s data suggest that German industry could shift into a higher gear in the first quarter,” Brzeski said.
