New orders for German-made industrial goods dropped unexpectedly in October, as the Federal statistics office Destatis reported on Dec. 6. Factory orders in manufacturing were down 7.3% year-on-year and down 3.7% from September. The most dramatic decline is reported from the machinery and equipment sector, where new orders declined by 13.5% from September, when there was a 9.8% rise in new orders.
Demand was also down in other major sectors such as fabricated metal products (except machinery and equipment), the manufacture of basic metals, electrical equipment, and automotive parts, the data suggests.
