The slump in orders in the German mechanical engineering sector continues.

Orders fell by ten percent in February compared to the previous year, as reported by the industry association VDMA on Wednesday. There were eleven percent fewer orders from Germany and ten percent fewer from abroad. "At the moment, the minor tones still predominate in the order situation," explained VDMA expert Ralph Wiechers. The economic researchers are counting on a turnaround in the second half of the year. "But mechanical engineering is a late-cycle sector, so it may be a while before the slump in orders ends." On the positive side, inflation is falling.

In the three-month period from December to February, which is less affected by fluctuations, incoming orders fell by eight percent. The drop was eleven percent in Germany and seven percent abroad. With more than one million employees, mechanical engineering companies are the backbone of the German economy.

(Report by Anneli Palmen, edited by Ralf Banser; if you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets)).