March 9, 2024 (EIRNS)—Manufacturing data for January in Germany are not simply bad, they are scary. Manufacturing output is down 11.3% on a monthly basis and 6.3% on a yearly basis. It is the worst downturn since 2020. That was the Covid year.
Some more figures: electrical equipment manufacturing declined 33.2%, transportation equipment −27.3%, fabricated metal products −14.5%, while machinery contained losses to −4.7%. All three main categories recorded marked retreats: capital goods −13.1%, intermediate goods −9.3% and consumer goods −5.7%. Foreign orders dropped 11.4%, and orders within the eurozone were down −25.7%, while non-eurozone orders posted a timid +1.6%. In contrast, domestic orders fell 11.2%.
