The German industry, plagued by material bottlenecks and disrupted supply chains, is facing difficult months: In October, orders broke off for the second time within three months, which was due to the lower demand from abroad.

The companies drew 6.9 percent fewer orders on land than in the previous month, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday.

Economists had only expected a slight decline.

In September there had been growth of 1.8 percent, which followed a slump of 8.8 percent in August. "The second sharp decline in incoming orders within the last three months means a further damper for the economic outlook," emphasized the Federal Ministry of Economics. This is also supported by a comparison with the same month last year: Here, orders fell by 1.0 percent, the first time in more than a year.

“This is a warning shot against the bow of the economy,” LBBW economist Jens-Oliver Niklasch commented on the development.

It shows “that something is wrong”.

Falling foreign demand in October caused the poor performance.

These orders fell by 13.1 percent compared to the previous month.

Orders from the euro zone fell by 3.2 percent, while those from the rest of the world fell by 18.1 percent.

Domestic business, on the other hand, grew by 3.4 percent.

Lockdowns in Asia put a brake on industry

"The decline in orders seems brutal," said VP Bank's chief economist, Thomas Gitzel.

“The infection process in Asia is now making itself felt.” This is likely to hide above all China.

"New lockdowns in Asia are slowing down the industry in this country," said Gitzel.

"The current virus wave is thus a renewed burden on the world economy."

Turnover in industry developed better: real income in October was 3.6 percent higher than in the previous month.

Compared to February 2020, the month before the restrictions caused by the corona pandemic in Germany, sales were 7.1 percent lower.

The industry's order books are still full.

However, production is jammed due to bottlenecks in raw materials and materials such as microchips.

This is one of the reasons why the upswing in the coming year will turn out to be a number smaller than originally thought, according to the German government's forecast.

It lowered its growth forecast to 2.6 percent from 3.5 percent previously.

In 2022 there should be an increase of 4.1 percent, and then 1.6 percent in 2023.