An industry association says orders for German machinery, an important export, plummeted in August, adding to signs of a recession in Europe’s biggest economy.
The VDMA group said Friday that orders were down 17% compared with a year earlier, with demand from abroad dropping 19% and orders from inside Germany falling 12%. Orders from countries outside the eurozone fell a particularly sharp 21%.
VDMA’s Olaf Wortmann said the figures suggest single-digit drops in previous months were “only a pause for breath,” given pessimism about exports in recent surveys. The group said that, for the June-August period, orders were 8% lower than a year earlier.
FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2009 file photo an employee of MAN Turbo company works on compressors and turbines at the factory in Oberhausen, western Germany. A German machine engeneering association says that orders for German machinery, an important export, plummeted in August adding to signs of a recession in Europe’s biggest economy. (AP PhotoMartin Meissner, file)
Germany’s economy contracted slightly in the second quarter and is widely believed to have shrunk further in the third, putting it in a technical recession.