New manufacturing orders in May fall by 28.4%

The value of new orders in the manufacturing sector in May this year was 28.4 per cent lower than that in May last year. According to the Statistics Finland, in the January- May period, orders declined by 12.2 per cent year on year.

Manufacturing orders had been on a continuous slide for the first five months of this year.

In May, enterprises in all manufacturing industries received fewer orders than in May 2019. In the chemical industry, the value of new orders in the month decreased by 14.9 per cent, in the paper and paper board products-manufacturing industry by 29.8 per cent, and in the metal industry by 30.6 per cent year on year.

When interpreting these statistics, it should be borne in mind that they typically show strong fluctuations by month. Even new orders of substantial value are not examined over extended time periods but for the statistical reference month only, explained the Statistics Finland.

The index of new manufacturing orders describes the development in the value of new orders received by enterprises for commodities and services that are meant to be produced by establishments located in Finland. These statistics are based on non-probability sampling, in which the basic observation unit is an enterprise or a kind-of-activity unit. The sample comprises 400 to 450 enterprises or their kind-of-activity units per month. Index point figures and annual change percentages are published monthly for four industry categories. The time series starts from January 2005 and their base year is 2015 (2015=100).

The index figures may become slightly revised as new data accumulate and enterprises report changes to their data. Due to supplementations, the latest 12 months are revised in the releases. A detailed description of the statistics and the calculation method are included in the quality description on the home page of the Statistics Finland.