According to a statement released on February 24 by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the new industrial orders index in the European Union member states (EU-27) rose by 0.6 percent month on month in December 2009, after a month-on-month increase of 2.4 percent recorded in November.
On the other hand, in December 2009 new industrial orders in the EU-27, excluding ships, railway and aerospace equipment for which changes tend to be more volatile, fell by 0.8 percent month on month and rose by 5.5 percent year on year.
Compared with 2008, the average new orders index for 2009 fell by 21.9 percent in the EU-27.
In the EU-27 in December, new orders for capital goods increased by 4.3 percent, new orders fell by 1.5 percent for non-durable consumer goods, decreased by three percent for intermediate goods and rose by 2.2 percent for durable consumer goods, all compared to November.