Factories in the 15 nations sharing the euro saw new orders fall in August, despite strong figures out of industrial power Germany, according to official EU data released on Oct. 23. New industrial orders in the eurozone fell by 1.2% in August after a 2% rise in July, according to the EU's official Eurostat agency.
The August figures were also down a whopping 6.6% in the 15-nation eurozone compared to the same month last year, showing the effect that the financial crisis and economic downturn has had since then.
For the 27-nation EU as a whole the figures were similarly grim, down 1.4% over the month and 6.7% over the year. The slump came despite a 3.3% increase in industrial orders in Germany in August, as well as larger rises in Ireland and Latvia. However French orders were down by 7.2% with the percentage drop in Bulgaria and Greece on double figures.
Sector-wise while new orders for machinery and equipment rose by 2.3% in the eurozone and electrical and electronic equipment was up by 1.1%, manufacturing of textiles and textile products was down by 6.5% and 3.5% respectively.
Transport equipment orders fell a massive 10.6% in the eurozone.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2008
