BERLIN: German industrial orders plunged a surprise four percent in March month-on-month, the first fall this year, official figures showed Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected orders in Europe's biggest economy to be unchanged from February. Domestic orders fell 3.5 percent and by 4.3 percent from abroad, the economy ministry said. In February, orders had climbed a revised 1.9 percent from January, compared with the previously reported 2.4-percent rise. In January they soared 3.1 percent month-on-month. The figures were adjusted for inflation and seasonal and calendar effects. The ministry said there was a significantly under-average number of large orders in March, something which might have skewed the data. On a less volatile two-monthly comparison, orders were a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent higher in February and March compared to December and January, the government said. For the first quarter as a whole, orders were 2.3 percent higher than in the first three months of 2010. “Despite the recent fall, the recovery trend is continuing,” the ministry said, calling the drop in March part of a “normalization” in Europe's powerhouse after the record recession of 2009 and the strong rebound last year. Output plunged a record 4.7 percent in 2009 but rose 3.6 percent in 2010. Dirk Schumacher, senior European economist at bank Goldman Sachs, also cautioned against writing off the German economy just yet. “This is a volatile series and large monthly changes may occur. We would need at least two months of declines before being able to asses whether any material change has occurred,” Schumacher said. He added that business sentiment remained strong, with the latest reading of the closely watched Ifo survey suggesting industrial orders resumed their upwards trend in April. Andreas Rees, chief Germany economist at Unicredit, said that the drop in March was the steepest decline since January but that orders data are often volatile during an upswing. – Agence France
