In October 2024, incoming orders in the mechanical and plant engineering sector in North Rhine-Westphalia were up 7 per cent year-on-year in real terms.
Domestic demand remained unchanged, while foreign orders increased by 10 per cent. The eurozone contributed to this result with a decrease of 9 per cent and the non-eurozone with an increase of 23 per cent.
In the more significant three-month period from August to October 2024, orders fell by 7 per cent compared to the previous year. Domestic orders were 10 per cent down on the previous year. Orders from abroad fell by 5 per cent. Demand from the European region remained 10 per cent below the previous year’s figures, while incoming orders from non-European countries were 3 per cent lower.
The positive October figures are unfortunately only an upward outlier. This is because the previous year’s order figures were extremely weak, so the basis was very low. The mechanical and plant engineering sector in North Rhine-Westphalia continues to lack the necessary investment from domestic and foreign customers for a sustainable economic recovery.