BERLIN: European factory orders jumped three times more than forecast in November as a modest economic recovery took hold in the region, data released Friday showed.
The publication of the figures by the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat came as Germany dramatically revised up its monthly order book data.
Instead of a previous meager increase of 0.2 percent in November industry orders in Europe’s biggest economy surged by 2.8 percent, the German Economics Ministry said.
Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a much smaller revision to 0.5 percent.
Earlier this week, Berlin also revised higher its forecast for economic growth this year to 1.5 percent, from a previous estimate of 1.2 percent.
In 2009, output slumped by five percent as Germany, one of the world’s top exporters, suffered its worst recession in six decades.
Eurostat said its industrial orders index for the 16-member euro zone rose by a month-on-month 1.6 percent in November.
Eurostat also revised down the October fall to a 1.9-percent drop from a preliminary 2.2 percent estimate. Analysts had forecast a 0.5-per-cent rise in November order books.
The data also showed the year-on-year fall in orders as slowing dramatically in November.
Compared with November 2008, new industrial orders declined by 1.5 percent in the euro zone, which emerged from recession during the third quarter. In October order books contracted by 14.4 percent year on year and by 25.8 percent.
It was much the same story for the broader 27-member EU where new orders increased by 1.8 percent in November 2009, after slumping by 1.4 percent in October, Eurostat said. Year-on-year new industrial new orders fell by 2.0 percent in the EU.
The biggest monthly increases were reported in Estonia with a 7.4- percent gain, Greece (7.3 percent) and the Czech Republic (7.1 per cent).
The steepest falls were in Hungary, which posted a 9.6 percent drop, Ireland (minus 4.4 percent) and Bulgaria (minus 4.1 percent).
