Industrial orders gained 2.9% from the previous month according to provisional ministry data. A breakdown of the figures showed the strongest rise was in domestic demand, which gained 4.5% on the month, followed by eurozone orders that were 2.3% higher.
Demand from countries outside the 17-nation area edged up by 1.3% following a plunge of 8.1% in December.
The economy ministry also publishes a two-month calculation designed to smooth out exceptional events, and said it showed a gain of 0.4% in December and January compared with October-November.
The German government currently expects 2011 growth of 2.3%, down from 3.6% last year that represents the strongest rate since Germany was reunified in late 1990.
Central bank president Axel Weber said on March 8 that the economy would expand further this year with support from an increase in private consumption.
Unemployment fell in February to 7.3% of the workforce, the lowest level since the current measure was first presented in 1999, while business confidence as measured by the Ifo institute hit a third straight record high.
Data released by the national statistics office meanwhile showed that trade between Germany and China posted a hefty jump last year, with Beijing becoming Berlin's third-largest trading partner and biggest overall provider of imports.
For overall trade, China moved up to behind France and the Netherlands, while in terms of exports, France was the biggest buyer of German goods, as it has been since 1961, followed by the United States and the Netherlands.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
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