BERLIN, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The number of total orders for Germany's manufacturing sector grew slightly by 0.2 percent in December 2018 compared to the previous month, preliminary figures published by the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) showed Tuesday.
Pending orders for the manufacturing sector from the domestic German market strongly increased by 1 percent, while orders from outside Germany declined by 0.3 percent in December, Destatis reported.
Producers of capital goods, the biggest segment in the German manufacturing sector, reported an increase in total orders of 0.3 percent, while producers of consumer and intermediate goods saw a decrease of 1.1 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.
"Despite the downward trend in new orders, the stock of orders continues to rise, indicating that recent declines in industrial production have been so far largely due to supply side factors," Simon Junker, an economic expert with the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), told Xinhua.
The numbers from the manufacturing sector would support the DIW's forecast of a "strong first quarter in 2019 which rests on substantial pent-up demand gradually unfolding as supply side disturbances fade", added Junker.
German companies in the manufacturing sector could maintain current business for almost six months without any new orders. Destatis reported a so-called range of stock of orders of 5.7 months for December 2018.
Manufacturers of capital goods had the largest range of stock of orders with 8 months, while producers of consumer and intermediate goods in Germany showed the lowest range of only 1.9 and 3 months respectively.
