Source:Insee

24 NOVEMBER 2011

Order books (excluding transport equipment) fell -3.1% in September month-on-month and including all orders plunged -6.2% hammered by a lack of industrial confidence for the third consecutive month. Regional sovereign and financial institutions downgrades and Europe's paralysis over Greece froze demand globally: France's new orders from the Euro area consequently collapsed -4.9% while the single currency's monthly foreign exchange average, a low USD 1.37 (compared with USD 1.43 in August)  failed to fill up export order books, down -2.7% in a chain reaction mode.

New orders of Capital Goods fell the hardest, -9.8% a combination of the previous month sustained momentum and industrialists halt. Intermediate Goods was therefore dragged down to -2.4% while new orders of Durable Consumer Goods reflected this trend and dived -8.3%. Non Durable Consumer Goods turned negative, -4.3% in a cyclical stop-and-go pattern following August rebound. Compared with the previous quarter, news orders however rose +1.3%.
 
In September, the Automobile Industry's new orders index decreased -6.9% pushed down by slower demand, and by ricochet, electronic equipment's declined -1.3%. Order books of machinery and equipment shrunk to +0.8% or under five fold the previous month performance.  IT products-electronic and optical equipment contracted further and dropped -4.8%
Paper and cardboard new orders index dived -6.2% due to lesser packaging demand as chemical, pharmaceutical, and textile made no exception to the order books near general melt down.

New orders of clothing picked up +0.8% from the previous month abyssal level ahead of the winter season. Metal and metallic products respective +1.5% and +1.2% new order pick up translated anticipation on future demand and despite above normal stock levels due to commodity substantial price declines. 

In the Euro area, order books plunged -6.4% the first such abrupt drop since April according to Eurostat data. New orders of Capital Goods rescinded -6.8%, Intermediate Goods -3.2%, Durable Consumer Goods -0.6% and Non Durable -2%. In the EU 27, orders fell -2.3% with all industrial groups mirroring similar order books drops.

New orders in Germany contracted -4.4%, in Italy -9.2% and in Spain -5.3%
In the UK, new orders fell -1.9%. New orders in Denmark and Latvia stayed sustained and jumped respectively +14% and +13.1%. Poland stayed on course with new orders up 5.1%  and in the Czech Republic +4.8%

In one year, overall new orders in France moved down threefold to +3.1%, in Germany +3.8%, in Spain +3.4% while Italy turned negative and fell -4.3%. As a result, new orders in the Euro area dropped to a minimalist +1.6%. The UK‘s order index declined -3.4% and the EU 27's was halved to +2.3%.

The Euro area's new orders of Durable Consumer Goods surged +1.3% while by contrast, Capital Goods plunged to +0.6%, Intermediate Goods +3.1%, and Non Durable to +0.8%.