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According to the statistics released by France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), in March this year France's new industrial orders received, excepting heavy tranport vehicles, remained almost stable with a slight increase of just 0.1 percent month on month. In February, a revised month-on-month increase of 0.2 percent was registered. Meanwhile, in March export orders decreased by 1.3 percent as compared to the previous month.
 
In the first quarter of 2012, France's new orders increased 4.7 percent in the automobile industry, while an increase of two percent was recorded in the other manufacturing sectors, both compared to the previous quarter.
 
In the first quarter, industrial orders in the domestic metallurgical industry fell by 7.9 percent as compared to the previous quarter, while industrial orders in the manufacture of metal products except machinery increased by 8.7 percent as compared to Q4 2011.