Germany’s mechanical engineering industry continues to struggle, with the value of orders in July down 5% from July 2023, the industry association VDMA reported on Friday. Although July orders posted the first single digit decline since October, it was far from positive, as orders in July 2023 had been extremely weak. “In view of this weak basis, the bar was not set very high,” VDMA chief economist Ralph Wiechers said in a statement. In the less volatile three-month period from May to July, orders fell by 14%, the group said. Wiechers said there is no sign of a pick up in orders for either Ger…