The downward trend continued in June, although the decline was exaggerated by large orders in June 2023, according to the ZVEI. According to the report, orders in the German electrical and digital industry fell again in June 2024. Overall, incoming orders fell by 26.3% compared to the previous year. At 26.7%, the decline in domestic orders was only slightly higher than that of foreign orders (-26.0%). In June, 19.8% fewer new orders were received from the eurozone than in the same month of the previous year. Orders from third countries fell by 28.7%.

A comparison of the first half of the year

In the first six months of the year as a whole, incoming orders fell 14.3% short of the previous year's figure. The decline in orders from domestic business partners (-17.0%) was more pronounced than that from abroad (-12.0%). Orders from the eurozone and from countries outside the single currency area were 9.8% and 13.2% lower respectively between January and June than in 2023.

The price-adjusted production of electrical and electronic goods in Germany fell 13.6% short of the previous year's level in June 2024. For the first six months of the year, this results in an output decline of 10.0% compared to the previous year.

At the beginning of the third quarter of the year, industry-wide capacity utilization stood at 75.6% (normal full capacity utilization). This represents a fall of almost five percentage points over the past three months. However, the order backlog remained unchanged compared to the second quarter at 4.2 (production) months. "In terms of current obstacles to production, the pendulum has once again swung further in the direction of demand-side obstacles," says ZVEI economic expert Peter Giehl. "54% of electrical companies reported a lack of orders in July." Supply-side bottlenecks such as a shortage of labor or skilled workers (23%) and a shortage of materials (11%) were only mentioned afterwards.

Sales down by 12.1

Nominal revenue in the domestic electrical and digital industry amounted to EUR 19.0 billion in June 2024, 12.1% lower than a year ago.

Domestic sales fell by 10.7% to EUR 9.1 billion in June, while foreign sales fell by 13.3% to EUR 9.9 billion. 3.6 billion euros - 9.9% less than in the previous year - was attributable to business with partners from the eurozone. Revenue with third countries amounted to 6.3 billion euros (-15.0%).

In the overall period from January to June 2024, aggregated industry sales fell by 8.1% year-on-year to €110.4 billion.

Domestic revenue amounted to €52.9 billion, while revenue from abroad amounted to €57.5 billion with foreign customers. The former were therefore 8.4% and the latter 7.9% lower than in the same period of the previous year. Turnover with the eurozone amounted to 20.9 billion euros (-6.8%) and 36.6 billion euros (-8.5%) with countries from other currency areas.

"The business climate in the German electrical and digital industry deteriorated again in July 2024," says Giehl. "The current situation in particular deteriorated significantly. General business expectations, on the other hand, were assessed only slightly less favorably than in June, meaning that they were again slightly below the zero line."