German industrial orders continued to drop in February

08 April 2009 17:32  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--German industrial orders continued to decline in February, falling 3.5% month on month after a 6.7% sequential decline in January from December, the country’s economics ministry said on Wednesday.

However, the decline had somewhat decelerated in February and selected segments in the automotive and investment goods sectors had even recorded slight increases in orders over January, the ministry said.

The ministry cited as possible reasons government incentives to encourage drivers to scrap older vehicles and buy new ones, as well as orders from outside the euro-zone.

On a two-month sequential comparison – January-February compared with November-December – orders dropped 11.8%, with export demand down 16.0% and domestic demand down 6.9%, the ministry said.

Compared with January-February 2008, orders were down 37.6%, with export orders down 42.1% and domestic orders down 31.8%.

Germany’s real economy was expected to shrink about 5.0% in 2009, according to a projection by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development last month.

Germany’s chemical industry association VCI said earlier it expected a 3.5% decline in the country’s chemical production in 2009. Chemicals are Germany’s fourth largest industrial sector.

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