Number of incoming orders to EU industry continues falling

The number of incoming orders to industry in the EU continued dropping in December 2008. Thus, the index of incoming orders fell by 5.2% in the Eurozone and by 6.4% in the EU27 on the previous month. As compared to December 2007, the index of incoming orders dropped by 22.3% and 23.3% in the Eurozone and EU27 respectively.

Not taking into account the more volatile sectors of ship building, rail vehicle building as well as the aerospace industry, the number of incoming orders fell by 4.7% and 6.4% respectively in the month-to-month comparison and by 22.1% and 21.2% respectively as compared to December 2007.

The annual average index value for 2008 was down by 5.0% in the Eurozone and down by 4.9% in the EU27 as compared to the average index value in 2007.

The above figures are estimates by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).

Monthly changes

Incoming orders to the textile and garment industries fell by 0.5% in the Eurozone and by 0.4% in the EU27. For electrical and electronic devices the respective decreases were -1.7% and -3.2%. The number of incoming orders to the chemical industry fell by 4.3% and 5.3% respectively. For vehicle construction the changes were -4.6% and -6.1% respectively, for the metal producing industry -10.1% and -9.2% and -12.3% and -9.4% with regard to mechanical and plant engineering.

Among those member states which already made data available there was an increase in the number of incoming orders in four member states and a decrease in 16. Increases were reported from Latvia (+5.8%), Greece (+2.8%), France (+1.5%) and Spain (+0.9%). The biggest drops were registered in the Netherlands (-15.1%), Hungary (-13.0%), Ireland (-12.2%) and Slovakia (-11.4%).

Annual changes

Incoming orders to the textile and garment industries fell by 6.5% in the Eurozone and by 5.8% in the EU27 as compared to December 2007. With regard to the chemical industry the changes were -12.5% and -12.1%. For electrical and electronic devices the number of incoming orders decreased by 3.8% in the Eurozone and by 14.8% in the EU27 and by -26.3% and -23.9% for mechanical engineering. For vehicle construction the drop in incoming orders was 35.1% and 37.0% respectively. GERMAN

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