Germany's mechanical and plant engineering companies have witnessed a strong rise in new customer orders during the first half of the year, a report published on Monday by the German Mechanical and Plant Engineering Federation (VDMA) showed.
According to the report, monthly orders in the mechanical and plant engineering industry rose by an annualized rate of seven percent between January and June.
"Engineering companies can be very happy with the first half of 2018," a statement by VDMA chief economist Ralph Wiechers read.
Gross engineering revenue was also up by four percent during the first six months of the year. "The positive expectations of the current year have been fully met," Wiechers commented on the findings.
Broken down by regions, domestic orders (ten percent) rose ahead of international orders (six percent). Wiechers consequently highlighted that traditionally export-oriented German engineering companies had benefited from a strong uptick in domestic demand which provided an additional measure of security in the face of international trade conflicts.
"The appetite to invest in Germany has increased significantly and this benefits our industry," Wiechers said.
Speaking to Xinhua on Monday, VDMA economic expert Olaf Wortmann explained that engineers were belatedly benefiting from an "atypical growth cycle" in Germany during recent years which was driven by strong household consumption and construction. "Capital goods are now catching up while other sectors of the economy are already experiencing a normalization of growth again."
In the latest assessed month of June alone, engineering orders increased by an annual rate of 13 percent compared to the same period last year. Domestic and international orders hereby increased by 12 percent and 13 percent respectively.
Signaling a weakening of recent currency headwinds from a strong euro, orders from non-Eurozone countries (16 percent) grew significantly faster than those placed within the members of the currency union (seven percent).
Counting around 1.35 million staff in total, mechanical and plant engineering is Germany's single largest industrial employer.
