German Industry Orders Rise

High demand from abroad boosted German industrial orders in March, data showed on Monday, a second-in-a-row rise analysts saw as a sign the sector is overcoming past volatility and will contribute to growth in coming months.

Contracts for “Made in Germany” goods were up by 1% on the month, the economy ministry said, the first time since November 2015 that new orders increased for two months in a row, Reuters reported.

“Combined with buoyant confidence indicators, today’s new orders data suggest that industrial production could finally gather some momentum,” ING Diba economist Carsten Brzeski said in a note to clients.

“There is increasing evidence that contrary to previous cycles industrial production could be the lagging factor of the current positive economic expansion,” he added.

The March figure was on a par with the Reuters consensus forecast and followed an upwardly revised rise of 3.5% in February. In January orders fell by 6.8%. A breakdown of the March data showed domestic demand fell by 3.8% and foreign orders were up by 4.8%, with bookings from eurozone countries rising by 6.8%.

The eurozone has been revived by the European Central Bank’s expansive monetary policy, and that recovery is good news for German exporters.

“Demand for exports is becoming buoyant, supported above all by a positive development in the eurozone,” said Sophia Krietenbrink of the DIHK Chambers of Commerce.

Highlighting the importance of the eurozone to Germany, German business associations and economists on Monday welcomed the election of pro-European Union politician Emmanuel Macron as president in France, Germany’s second most important trading partner after China.

“There is a big relief in the engineering industry that the pro-European camp has prevailed in France,” said Carl Martin Welcker, president of the VDMA engineering association.

“With Macron, Germany has won a partner to advance necessary reforms together in the EU.”