While industrial orders increased 1.4% in May, orders from abroad continued to fall, the official statistics agency INSEE said on July 20.
In April, industrial orders -- excluding the sector of transport, but including automobiles -- had fallen by 1.2%.
Orders for export in May fell by 0.9%, INSEE said.
The agency said orders in the pharmaceutical and textile sectors increased by more than 6% in May while orders in the automobile sector fell by 1.8%.
Industrial orders for March, April and May fell by 2.7% from the level in the previous three months, but rose by 12.9% from the same period a year ago, INSEE said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
