German factory orders grew at the fastest pace in five months in August on robust domestic and Eurozone demand, official data showed Thursday.
Factory orders climbed 1 percent in August from July, when they grew by a revised 0.3 percent, Destatis said. The figure for July was revised up from 0.2 percent.
This was the second consecutive rise in orders and the largest since March, when orders grew 2.6 percent. Economists had expected orders to grow 0.3 percent in August.
Domestic orders advanced 2.6 percent in August, while foreign orders fell 0.2 percent. New orders from the euro area climbed 4.1 percent. By contrast, demand from other countries fell 2.8 percent.
On a yearly basis, orders climbed a more-than-expected 2.1 percent in August, reversing a 0.6 percent fall in July. Orders were forecast to grow 1.6 percent.
The economy ministry said the industrial activity is set to improve over the course of the year.
Today's numbers bring some relief for German industry but are still far too little to become overly optimistic about the outlook for industrial production, Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING, said.
"Unless we see an entire series of similar data in the coming months, German industry will have troubles shifting to a higher gear," said Brzeski.
Orders for intermediate goods rose 1.7 percent compared with July. Manufacturers of capital goods reported an increase of 0.3 percent and that of consumer goods moved up 2.9 percent.
At the same time, manufacturing turnover logged a monthly growth of 4.1 percent in August, the biggest increase since 1991.
by RTT Staff Writer
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