Orders in the German machinery sector declined sharply on the year in October, falling by as much as 11 per cent, the Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) reported in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
The decline in September came in at 4 per cent in the key export-oriented sector, which has seen a steady fall since the beginning of the year.
"The recent signs of hope of an end to the fall in German industry cannot yet be seen in the order books of the machinery makers," VDMA chief economist Ralph Wiechers said.
Further signals of an end to the economic decline would have to be awaited to see whether they would not be affected by a tweet from US President Donald Trump or other events, he said.
There was usually a time lag between an economic recovery and a rise in orders, Wiechers noted.
The decline in October went into double figures in orders for both the domestic and the foreign markets.
"We are seeing in many machine building areas that customers are holding back investments. The reason for this is continuing insecurity over the future of the global economy, both short-term and long-term," Wiechers said.
Exports are also struggling. Over the first nine months, exports in nominal terms rose by just 0.6 per cent to 134.6 billion euros (149 billion dollars) by comparison with same period last year, as the VDMA reported recently
The association has predicted a decline in production of 2 per cent for this year and next, after posting a rise of 2 per cent last year.
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