2018 Integrated Report – On track towards a better Railway

Business development

Purchasing volume increased

The purchasing volume corresponds to the contractual obligations to suppliers that DB Group has entered into. On subsequent realization these become capital expenditures or expenses (mainly cost of materials and other operating expenses). The total purchasing volume was € 34.7 billion (previous year: € 30.3 billion).

  • Freight and freight-forwarding services were € 10.8 billion, nearly in line with that of the previous year (previous year: € 10.4 billion).
  • Industrial products increased significantly to € 9.2 billion (previous year: € 6.7 billion). Here, the further procurement of ICE 4 trains, locomotives and freight cars had a significant impact, along with an increased requirement for replacement parts.
  • Construction and engineering services also rose significantly to € 6.4 billion (previous year: € 5.6 billion). In ad­­­dition to price effects, the development was driven above all through the first service being awarded for the major project’s second main line in Munich (2. Stamm­­strecke München) along with the conclusion of German unification transport pro­jects no. 8 (VDE 8).
  • Third-party services increased to € 5.4 billion (previous year: € 4.8 billion). As a result of the digitalization initiatives, the requirements for IT services, amongst others, increased.
  • Cable- and pipe-bound power and fuel rose slightly to € 3.1 billion (previous year: € 2.8 billion).

The share of local purchasing volume in Germany was about € 16.3 billion.

(€ million)

2018

2017

2016

 

Purchasing volume 1)

18,358

15,920

17,820

     Share of local purchasing volume (%)

92

90

93

1) Not including DB Schenker, DB Arriva and foreign companies of DB Cargo.