German factory orders rise more than expected in October

German factory orders rose more than expected in October, according to figures released on Tuesday by Destatis.

Orders were up 0.8% on the month following a revised 2.9% decline in September, coming in comfortably ahead of expectations for a 0.1% increase.

On the year, factory orders fell 3.2% in October following a revised 9.8% slump the month before.

Destatis said that domestic orders fell 1.9%, while foreign orders rose 2.5% on the month in October. New orders from the eurozone were up 2.6% and new orders from other countries were 2.5% higher compared with September.

The producers of capital goods saw a 3.2% increase on the month in October. However, the makers of intermediate goods saw a 1.4% drop in new orders. Consumer goods makers saw new orders tumble 6.3%.

Melanie Debono, senior Europe economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The rise in orders in October was nowhere near enough to reverse the drops seen in the previous two months and major orders, which tend to be particularly volatile, led the increase.

"Excluding these orders, new orders fell again, by 1.2%."

Looking ahead, she said business surveys improved in November but they still point to falling orders.

"Today’s factory orders press release suggests a renewed decline in orders is likely too, noting that ‘disrupted supply chains as a result of the war in Ukraine and ongoing disruptions caused by the Corona crisis continue to lead to problems in processing orders’ while quoting an Ifo survey that shows nearly half of firms in manufacturing are still reporting bottlenecks and problems in procuring raw materials."