German mechanical and plant engineering firms recorded a sharp recovery in their order intake from April to June 2010 compared with the same period of the previous year. Order intake was up by 36.0 percent year-on-year in April and over 60 percent in May and June. It is important to note, however, that the comparable period a year ago marked the low point for German mechanical and plant engineering orders. On the other hand, not all of the growth can be ascribed to this baseline effect; a certain amount reflected a continuation of growth momentum that was already underway. On a cumulative basis, order intake gained 32.0 percent growth in real terms from January to June 2010. Capacity utilisation in mechanical engineering also went up during the period under review, climbing from 69.2 percent in July 2009 to 82.9 percent in July 2010.