The mechanical engineering companies in Germany recorded a significant decline in their order books in September. Compared to the same month last year, there was a decrease of 19 percent.
"The main reason for this setback was a base effect abroad. Additionally, there were special effects in September 2024 due to orders for large systems that did not repeat," says VDMA Chief Economist Dr. Johannes Gernandt. "But this should not obscure the fact that mechanical engineering continues to be in a noticeable demand slump and underutilization. This will fundamentally only resolve when the many crises in global trade, such as those surrounding US tariffs, are resolved and reforms are implemented in Germany and Europe that truly relieve companies," he adds. "We thus confirm our forecast of a real production decline of 5 percent this year."
The order decline in September 2025 consists of a 5 percent decrease in domestic orders and a 24 percent decrease in foreign orders. There were 13 percent fewer orders from Euro partner countries, and 27 percent fewer orders from non-Euro countries.
In the entire third quarter of 2025 (July to September), the order intake was also significantly 6 percent below the previous year. Domestic orders were 3 percent weaker in real terms, while foreign orders fell short of the previous year's quarter by 7 percent (Euro countries: minus 2 percent, non-Euro countries: minus 9 percent). For the first nine months of 2025 (January to September), this resulted in a slight order decline of 1 percent, evenly distributed between domestic and foreign. While there were still order increases of 10 percent from Euro countries during this period, non-Euro countries lagged 5 percent behind the previous year.
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