BERLIN (Reuters) -Higher demand from abroad drove a weaker-than-expected rise in German industrial orders in September following an unusually big drop in the previous month, suggesting that factories could hike their output as soon as supply bottlenecks ease.
Orders for goods ‘Made in Germany’ were up 1.3% on the month after a revised fall of 8.8% in August, seasonally adjusted figures from the Federal Statistics Office showed on Thursday.
A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a rise of 2% on the month.
Excluding orders for large-ticket items, bookings were up by only 0.2% on the month in September.
Demand from countries outside the euro zone jumped by nearly 15%, more than offsetting weaker orders from domestic and other clients in the euro zone.
The economy ministry said that the industrial orders data of the past months had been distorted by unusually large orders for goods such as planes and ships.
“All in all, orders in manufacturing were at a high level and exceeded their pre-crisis level of the fourth quarter of 2019 by roughly 13% in the third quarter,” the ministry added.
(Reporting by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Riham Alkousaa and Maria Sheahan)
