Boost in orders and better mood in Germany's electrical industry

The good news from Germany's electrical and digital industries continues. The industry continues to record a strong increase in orders, with increasing momentum: In July, incoming orders were 32.6 percent higher than the previous year, reported the industry association ZVEI. Incoming orders so far this year are 12.6 percent higher than from January to July 2025.

According to ZVEI, there was an increase of 17.3 percent in domestic business in the first seven months, and 9.3 percent more orders were received from abroad. The industry's revenues grew by 5.5 percent to 135.2 billion euros from January to July compared to the previous year.

Mood improved significantly

At the same time, the Ifo Institute reported that the mood in the industry is currently better than it has been in over three years. The barometer for the business climate in the electrical industry rose to 16.0 points in August, after 10.0 points in July. This is the highest value since May 2023. Business expectations in particular have brightened significantly, according to the economic researchers. This is mainly due to foreign business: export expectations jumped from minus 7.6 to plus 24.7 points.

“The electrical industry is currently one of the few areas of industry where business is going well,” explained Ifo economist Klaus Wohlrabe. Digitalization is the main reason behind the development. "The expansion of data centers, investments in artificial intelligence and automation in customer industries have a direct impact on the order books." This is not a short-term flash in the pan, but the result of long-term investments that should support the industry for a while.

Companies want to hire again

The industry includes manufacturers of data processing equipment, electronic and optical products. Their capacity utilization recently rose to 81.2 percent. One problem, however, is the supply of preliminary products: one in three companies complained about a lack of materials.

In view of the good business situation, according to the ZVEI, many companies have increased their production plans - and want to hire more staff for the first time in over three years. In the manufacturing sector as a whole, however, companies continue to plan to cut jobs. At the end of the first half of the year, there were 864,600 employees in the German electrical and digital industry, 1.5 percent fewer than a year earlier.

DAX is not making any progress

The most important industry representatives in the DAX are not very convincing today. While Siemens rose slightly until the early afternoon, Siemens Energy shares fell slightly, and Infineon was even the biggest index loser. However, a downgrade by the analysts at Morgan Stanley also weighs on this.

The overall market remains affected by rising oil prices. By the early afternoon, the DAX had lost 0.1 percent to 25,980 points, but had already traded significantly lower in the meantime.