According to a statement released on March 23 by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the new industrial orders index in the European Union member states (EU-27) rose slightly by 0.1 percent month on month in January, after a revised month-on-month increase of 2.9 percent recorded in December 2010. The year-on-year increase in January was recorded at 18.6 percent in the region.
On the other hand, in January new industrial orders in the EU-27, excluding ships, railway and aerospace equipment for which changes tend to be more volatile, increased by 1.9 percent month on month and rose by 21.1 percent year on year.
In the EU-27 in the given month, new orders for capital goods dropped by 3.4 percent, new orders increased by 0.1 percent for non-durable consumer goods, rose by 4.1 percent for intermediate goods and increased by 2.6 percent for durable consumer goods, all compared to December 2010.
On month-on-month basis, among the member states for which data are available, total new industrial orders fell in 11 member states and rose in 10 others. The largest decreases were registered in Estonia with 34.5 percent, in France with 7.8 percent and in Finland with 7.7 percent, while the highest increases were seen in Denmark with 13.4 percent, in Latvia with 11.9 percent and in Bulgaria with 9.4 percent.