German engineering firms record surprisingly weak start to 2026, says VDMA

BERLIN, March 4 (Reuters) - German engineering orders recorded a surprisingly weak start to 2026, said the chief economist of the VDMA engineering association on Wednesday after January orders were down 6%.

"Some sentiment indicators had recently pointed upwards, so the decline in orders in January is a surprisingly weak start to 2026," said chief economist Johannes Gernandt.

He said that German engineering companies would have to take a wait-and-see approach for how orders develop in coming months.

"The war that has now begun in the Gulf region and the associated additional geopolitical uncertainty will certainly not help export-oriented companies and their customers overcome the global investment slowdown," added Gernandt.

Domestic orders were down 8% on the year in January while foreign ones fell 5%, with those from both inside and outside the euro zone decreasing by 8% and 4%, respectively.

In the less-volatile November-to-January period, orders were down 2%, with domestic and foreign contracts falling 4% and 1%, respectively.