Source:Eurostat

23 JUNE 2011

ORDER BOOKS rebounded +0.7% in the Euro area in April month-on-month following the previous month general gap, pushed up by Capital Goods (excluding ships, railway and aerospace equipment) +1.7% surge, Non Durable Consumer Goods +4% rise into positive territory equally to Durable Consumer Goods +2.6% rebound. Intermediate Goods by contrast performed inversely with new orders dipping -0.1%

In the EU 27, overall new orders inched up +0.2% as seven member states out of a total 27 recorded positive momentum, and overwhelmingly from the Euro area.  New orders of Durable Consumer Goods fell -2.2% due to tight stock management two months ahead of the summer sales period. Non Durable Consumer Goods turned positive with new orders up +1.7% the first surge since January to meet demand for textile-clothing-footwear products in time for the holiday season. New orders of Intermediate Goods stayed unchanged or +0.1% and mirrored Durable while Capital Goods' rose to +0.4% from negative territory lifted by heavy players' demand for machinery and equipment as well as IT products.

In Germany, which accounts for 36.98% of the Euro area's new orders and nearly 30% of the EU 27 new orders grew +2.4%, while Italy (17.18% of all Euro area orders and 13.84% of the EU 27)  and Spain (8.57% and 6.90%), the Euro area's other major players along with France (18.70% and 15.06%), underperformed, respectively -2.6% and +0.2%. The UK, (9.21% of the EU 27 orders) the Union's fifth largest economy, recorded +0.6% new orders intake and recovered from the previous month drop.
 
Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia were the only east European member states to record positive activities in April with new orders rising respectively +6.6%, +1.8% and +2.7% while Poland, the largest economy recorded -4.1% new orders decline despite each lower wage increases and yearly inflation by comparison but higher producer prices.

In one year, new orders slowed down to +8.6% in the Euro area and +6.9% in the EU 27. New orders of Capital Goods in the Euro area moved down by two percentage point to + 12% and Intermediate Goods nearly two fold to +8%. Durable Consumer Goods stayed in the red and decreased by -1.8%. New orders of Non Durable Consumer Goods climbed to +1.9%.