In December, mood among manufacturing companies improved for the first time in six months, due to more optimistic expectations. However, industrial production is likely to remain impacted by supply bottlenecks for quite some time. Only when these gradually dissipate over the course of the year can more dynamic growth be expected again. Against this backdrop, HANNOVER MESSE, as the world's leading trade fair for industry, continues to gain in importance with its function as a stimulus and economic turbo.

The global economy also picked up in October. Global trade in goods increased by 1.6 percent compared to the previous month. This made up for the losses suffered in late summer and is now at the same level as in June. Global industrial production was also boosted, albeit only slightly (+0.8 percent) compared with September. It continues to suffer from supply bottlenecks for key intermediate goods and raw materials and the associated price pressure.

New orders in the manufacturing sector rose by 3.7 percent in November compared with the previous month, following a 5.8 percent decline in October. Overall manufacturing new orders recovered markedly in November, following two very sharp declines in August and October. The key factor here was strong demand from the euro zone (+13.1 percent) and the non-euro zone (+5.0 percent).