Nov 5 (Reuters) – German industrial orders rose less than expected in September, increasing by 4.4% from the previous month on a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis, the federal statistics office said on Thursday, pointing to a hike in automotive orders.
A Reuters poll of analysts had pointed to a rise of 4.8%.
New orders in manufacturing were primarily driven by a substantial increase in the automotive industry, which rose 10.5% from the previous month, the statistics office said.
That was in part due to a low level in new orders and production in the two previous months over production changeovers and factory holidays.
An 8.3% growth in the manufacture of machinery and equipment also had a positive impact on orders, the statistics office said, with a large-scale order contributing.
The less volatile three-month comparison showed that total new orders were 0.2% higher in the third quarter of 2026 than in the second.
Industry association VDMA said on Wednesday that orders in mechanical and plant engineering rose 14% in real terms in September year-over-year, but the increase was largely due to an unusually weak year-earlier comparison, and any upswing was seen as tenuous.
After revision of provisional data, new orders in August declined by 10.1% on July, while the provisional reading was -10.6%.
(Reporting by Basile Day and Linda Pasquini, editing by Thomas Seythal)
