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Mechanical Engineering NRW: Orders under pressure

In April 2022, new orders in the mechanical and plant engineering sector in North Rhine-Westphalia were 20 percent below the level of the same month a year earlier. Demand from the domestic market fell by 8 percent. Order intake from abroad fell by 24 percent. Orders received from the euro zone were down 15 percent year-on-year and from the non-euro zone by 28 percent.

In the three-month period February to April 2022, incoming orders fell by 10 percent year-on-year. Domestic orders decreased 4 percent and orders from outside the eurozone decreased 13 percent. Orders from other European countries decreased 17 percent and from outside Europe 11 percent.

The mutually reinforcing problems in the supply chains and the corona-related lockdown in China, as well as the effects of the Ukraine war, mean that orders in North Rhine-Westphalia are down for the second month in a row. On a positive note, the order backlog remains at a high level. However, the continuing shortage of materials will prevent rapid delivery of all these orders.