Germany's unfilled manufacturing orders rose 0.1 pct in February

Source: Xinhua | 2020-04-18

Unfilled orders in Germany's manufacturing sector had not yet been affected by COVID-19 in February and increased overall by 0.1 percent compared to January, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Friday.

The current coronavirus crisis "did not yet have a clear impact" on unfilled orders of German manufacturers in February, Destatis noted.

While unfilled domestic orders fell by 0.1 percent from the previous month, the stock of international orders which represented higher volumes went up by 0.1 percent, according to Destatis.

The number of employees in Germany's important manufacturing sector has decreased by 1 percent year-on-year, Destatis said. In February, 5.6 million people in Germany worked in manufacturing companies with 50 or more employees.

The number of employees of rubber and plastic producers fell most sharply - by 3.2 percent -- compared with February last year. Chemical producers in Germany, on the other hand, had increased staff by 1.8 percent by February, according to Destatis.

To protect German companies and their supply chains, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and the Ministry of Finance (BMF) announced on Thursday that the German government would provide 30 billion euros (32.6 billion U.S. dollars) in guarantees for supplier credits.

"For many companies this crisis is threatening because they no longer receive orders. And if there are still orders, it is uncertain whether the customer can pay in the end," said Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier.

The associated lever effect of the government guarantees would protect a "business volume of around 400 billion euros" and "support the economy in difficult times," the ministries stated.