As the debt crisis crimped demand in Germany and in the euro area, industrial orders in Germany declined in June, official data showed on Tuesday.
The economy ministry said that industrial orders dropped 1.7% in June from May, more than wiping out the modest 0.7% increase of that month.
Analysts polled by Dow Jones had been penciling in a decline of around 1% for June.
The decline was largely due to fewer domestic orders, which were down 2.1% month-on-month and a 4.9% drop in orders from eurozone countries, the ministry explained.
Orders from outside the euro area edged up 0.6% month-on-month.
By sector, orders for consumer goods were little changed, slipping 0.1%, while orders for semi-finished goods and capital goods declined by 3.2% and 1% respectively, the data showed.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012
