German engineering orders fall further amid Ukraine war, supply problems

BERLIN, June 3 (Reuters) – German engineering companies’ orders fell by 7% in April as the war in Ukraine, together with severe supply chain problems, took their toll on industry, the VDMA engineering association said on Friday.

The decline accelerated in April, following a 4% drop in March, which had seen the first year-on-year fall since January 2021.

In April, domestic orders plunged by 17% while foreign orders were down 2% on the same period last year, the VDMA reported.

“Several factors were responsible for this,” VDMA chief economist Ralph Wiechers said.

“Specifically for domestic business, the considerable decline was also attributable to a high value last year. Overall, orders suffered from the economic downturn in China, numerous hinderances to production as well as the direct and indirect consequences of the Ukraine war,” he added.