Orders increased again for the first time in June 2023

More orders from third countries

Domestic orders increased by 27.5% in June. In contrast, foreign orders rose by only half as much (+14.1%). The sharp decline in orders from the eurozone (-15.0%) was noticeable here, while orders from third countries were 33.7% higher than a year earlier.

This means that incoming orders in the German electrical and digital industry increased by 1.7% overall in the first half of 2023. While domestic customers increased their orders by 7.2%, orders from foreign business partners fell short of the previous year's figure by 2.6%. New orders from the eurozone were 8.3% lower than in the same period in 2022, while orders from third countries increased by 0.7%.

Increased production and revenues

The price-adjusted production of electrical goods increased by 5.6% in June compared to the previous year. "This is also due to the fact that June had one more working day this year than last year," explained Giehl. In the first six months of 2023, industry output increased by 4.3% overall. However, the figures for the previous months of 2023 have been revised downwards.

The nominal revenue of domestic electrical and digital companies amounted to EUR 21.5 billion in June 2023, up 15.4% on the previous year. Domestic sales (+14.9% to €10.2 billion) increased almost as much as foreign sales (+15.8% to €11.3 billion). Business with the eurozone increased by 12.4% to 4.0 billion euros in June. Sales to third countries amounted to 7.3 billion euros - an increase of 17.8%.

Sector sales increased

For the first half of the year, aggregated industry turnover totaled 120.4 billion, exceeding the previous year's figure by 13.8%. Domestic sales increased by 16.1% to 58.1 billion euros between January and June of this year. Foreign sales increased by 12.0% to 62.3 billion euros (eurozone: +10.6% to 22.4 billion euros, third countries: +12.8% to billions of euros).

At the beginning of the third quarter, industry-wide capacity utilization was 84.6%, a good one percentage point lower than three months previously. The order backlog also shortened from 5.2 to 4.7 (production) months. Although the pressure on supply chains continues to ease, 35% of companies are already experiencing a lack of orders. Three months ago, this figure was only 22%.

Business climate below the zero line

In July 2023, the business climate in the German electrical and digital industry fell for the fourth month in a row, dropping below the zero line for the first time since fall 2020. "Both the assessment of the current situation and expectations were significantly weaker than in June," says Giehl. Employment, production and export expectations also declined in July and all fell into negative territory on balance.