Luxembourg, 30/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - According to estimates published by Eurostat on 29 March the euro-zone industrial new orders index decreased by 3.2% in January 2004 compared with the previous month. The index increased by 2.8% in December 2003 and by 0.1% in November. EU15 new orders also fell, by 3.1% in January 2004, after rises of 2.5% in December 2003 and 0.2% in November. In January 2004, compared to the previous month, manufacturing of electrical and electronic equipment fell by 7.0% in the euro-zone and by 6.5% in the EU15, and manufacturing of machinery and equipment declined by 4.1% and 4.0% respectively. Transport equipment fell by 4.0% in both zones, and chemical products decreased by 3.9% in the euro-zone and by 4.0% in the EU15. Manufacturing of basic metals and fabricated metal products gained 2.7% in both zones, and textiles and textile products rose by 7.7% in the euro-zone and by 6.8% in the EU15. In January 2004, and among the Member States for which data are available, total manufacturing working on orders decreased in Italy (-6.1%), France (-2.7%), Portugal (-2.6%), Belgium (-2.5%) and Germany (-0.5%). The only increase was registered in Denmark (+3.7%).
In January 2004, as compared to January 2003 industrial orders were down by 1.8% in the Euro zone and EU15. In chemicals and chemical products decreased by 5.3% in the euro-zone and by 5.4% in the EU15, and manufacturing of machinery and equipment declined by 3.3% and 3.4% respectively. Manufacturing of electrical and electronic equipment fell by 2.8% in the euro-zone and by 3.0% in the EU15, and manufacturing of textiles and textile products declined by 2.5% in both zones. Transport equipment rose by 0.2% in both zones, and manufacturing of basic metals and fabricated metal products increased by 2.9% in the euro-zone and by 3.0% in the EU15. In January 2004, compared with January 2003, and among the Member States for which data are available, no increases were reported. The largest decreases were observed in Portugal (-14.8%), Italy (-5.5%) and Denmark (-5.0%), and the smallest in France (-0.7%).