German electrical industry records sharpest order slump in 4 yrs

Berlin [Germany], May 11: Germany's electrical and digital industry recorded its sharpest decline in incoming orders in almost four years in March, it emerged on Friday.
Orders that month were down 17.8 percent year on year, announced the German Electro and Digital Industry Association (ZVEI).
Domestic orders plummeted particularly, by a quarter, while those from abroad fell by 11.1 percent, ZVEI said. The electrical industry also saw its price-adjusted production down by almost a fifth in March.
A spokesperson from ZVEI told Xinhua on Friday that one reason for the slump could be that this year's Easter holidays fell in March, therefore "many employees (...) were on holiday and orders were no longer placed" that month.
In the first quarter as a whole, industry-wide incoming orders decreased by 13.5 percent from the previous year, according to ZVEI. One in two electrical companies reported a lack of orders as a reason for limiting production. Supply-side bottlenecks, such as shortages of skilled workers and materials, were also main obstacles.
For the entire manufacturing sector of Europe's largest economy, industry production witnessed a year-on-year drop of 3.3 percent in March, figures from the German Federal Statistical Office showed.
Industrial production continues to lag behind, showing no signs of improvement, Jupp Zenzen, economic expert at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry said on Wednesday. Companies in the country "urgently need growth stimuli," he added.
Source: Xinhua