Brussels, 25/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - The eurozone industrial order book index rose 2.7% in November 2009 on October 2009 (when it fell by 2.1%). In the EU27, there was a 2.6% rise in industrial orders in November 2009, following a 1.5% fall in October. Leaving aside the traditionally more volatile shipping, rail and airspace equipment industries, industrial order books saw a rise of 2.7% in the eurozone and 2.9% in the EU27. Compared with November 2008, orders fell by 0.5% in the eurozone and fell by 1.2% in the EU27. Excluding shipping, rail equipment and the airspace industries, orders fell by 0.8% in both areas.
Compared with October 2009, intermediate goods orders rose by 2.3% in the eurozone and 2.1% in the EU27. Orders for investment goods rose by 1.1% and 2.8% respectively. Durable consumer goods orders rose by 0.6% in the eurozone and 0.3% in the EU27, while non-durable consumer goods orders rose by 0.8% and 1.6% respectively. Overall, order-based manufacturing increased in 15 member states and fell in eight. The biggest increases were seen in Austria (10.3%), Estonia (7.4%) and Greece (7.3%), and the biggest falls in Hungary (-9.6%), Ireland (-4.4%) and Bulgaria (-4.1%).
Compared with November 2008, non-durable consumer goods orders rose by 1.6% in the eurozone and 4.3% in the EU27, but durable consumer goods orders fell by 5.3% in the eurozone and increased by 0.1% in the EU27. Investment goods orders rose by 0.8% in the eurozone but fell by 1.9% in the EU27. Intermediate goods orders fell by 2.1% in the eurozone and by 1.8% in the EU27. The index rose in nine member states, fell in 14 and did not change in Italy. The highest increases were recorded in Slovenia (10.6%), the Czech Republic (7.9%) and Finland (6.9%), and the greatest falls were recorded in Ireland (-26.5%), Lithuania (-24.8%) and Estonia (-16.3%). (A.B./transl.fl)