December 2008 compared with November 2008<br>Industrial new orders down by 5.2% in euro area<br>Down by 6.4% in EU27

STAT/09/24
24 February 2009

December 2008 compared with November 2008
Industrial new orders down by 5.2% in euro area
Down by 6.4% in EU27

In December 2008 compared with November 2008, the euro area¹ (EA15) industrial new orders index² fell by 5.2%. In November³ the index decreased by 5.4%. In the EU27¹ new orders declined by 6.4% in December 2008, after dropping by 5.1% in November³. Excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment⁴, for which changes tend to be more volatile, industrial new orders fell by 4.7% in the euro area and by 6.4% in the EU27.

In December 2008 compared with December 2007, industrial new orders decreased by 22.3% in the euro area and by 23.3% in the EU27. Total industry excluding ships, railway & aerospace equipment dropped by 22.1% in the euro area and by 21.2% in the EU27.

Compared with 2007, the average new orders index for 2008 fell by 5.0% in the euro area and by 4.9% in the EU27.

These estimates are released by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

[ Figures and graphics available in PDF and WORD PROCESSED ]

Monthly changes

In December 2008 compared with November 2008, new orders for textiles & textile products fell by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU27. Manufacturing of electrical & electronic equipment decreased by 1.7% and 3.2% respectively. Chemicals & chemical products dropped by 4.3% in the euro area and by 5.3% in the EU27. Transport equipment fell by 4.6% and 6.1% respectively. Basic metals & fabricated metal products lost 10.1% in the euro area and 9.2% in the EU27. Manufacturing of machinery & equipment declined by 12.3% and 9.4% respectively.

Among the Member States for which data are available for December 2008, total manufacturing working on orders rose in four and fell in sixteen. The increases were registered in Latvia (+5.8%), Greece (+2.8%), France (+1.5%) and Spain (+0.9%). The largest decreases were recorded in the Netherlands (-15.1%), Hungary (-13.0%), Ireland (-12.2%) and Slovakia (-11.4%).

Annual changes

In December 2008 compared with December 2007, new orders for textiles & textile products fell by 6.5% in the euro area and by 5.8% in the EU27. Manufacturing of chemicals & chemical products decreased by 12.5% and 12.1% respectively. Electrical & electronic equipment lost 13.8% in the euro area and 14.8% in the EU27. Manufacturing of machinery & equipment declined by 25.8% and 23.5% respectively. Basic metals & fabricated metal products decreased by 26.3% in the euro area and by 23.9% in the EU27. Transport equipment dropped by 35.1% and 37.0% respectively.

In December 2008, total manufacturing working on orders fell in all Member States for which data are available. The most significant falls were registered in Hungary (-37.2%), Slovakia (-35.0%), the Netherlands (-31.1%) and Spain (-30.3%).

1. The euro area (EA15) consisted of 15 Member States up to 31 December 2008: Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland. From 1 January 2009 the euro area (EA16) also includes Slovakia.

The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

As part of Eurostat's guidelines for the dissemination of data when the EU or euro area is enlarged, the aggregate data series commented on refer to the official composition of the euro area in the most recent month for which data are available. Thus News Releases with data for months up to December 2008 comment on EA15 series, while Releases with data for January 2009 onwards will comment on EA16 series.

1. The new orders index measures the value of future deliveries of products and services (which are directly linked to these products) to be provided by a producer to a third party on the domestic and non-domestic market. The total manufacturing aggregate includes only those NACE levels required by the STS Regulation to be supplied by the Member States (NACE 17, 18, 21, 24, 27-35) and is referred to as “total manufacturing working on orders”. The euro area and EU aggregates normally do not include Member States for which no data is available. For methodology see News Release 135/2003 of 26 November 2003.

The seasonally adjusted euro area and EU series are calculated by aggregating the unadjusted series from individual Member States and performing an adjustment for seasonal effects on these series. Therefore the seasonally adjusted figures for the European aggregates are based directly on the unadjusted series coming from the Member States and not on an aggregation of the seasonally adjusted indices from the Member States. The euro area and EU seasonally adjusted growth rates might differ from the weighted growth rates of the individual Member States. This procedure also implies that the aggregation of the overall figures is not based on the published details.

Starting with reference month January 2009, all short-term business statistics will be published using a revised activity nomenclature and with a new base year. See annex for more information.

1. Data of previous months have been revised compared to those issued in the News Release 11/2009 of 22 January 2009. The figures for November 2008 were -4.5% in the euro area and -3.9% in the EU27 for the monthly changes, and
   -26.2% in the euro area and -25.4% in the EU27 for the annual changes.
2. Transport equipment includes NACE 34 (motor vehicles) and NACE 35 (other transport equipment, which includes ships, railway and aerospace equipment). New orders for NACE 35 tend to be very volatile with a limited immediate impact on production. The new aggregate "Manufacturing working on orders excluding NACE 35" is less erratic. The share of NACE 35 in total manufacturing working on orders is 3.9% for the euro area and 4.3% for the EU.
3. When shown as confidential in the table, data for Cyprus, Malta and Finland are included in the European aggregates. They are not published at the national level and are therefore still confidential.
4. Data for Ireland are working day adjusted figures.

Eurostat news releases on the Internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/euroindicators
Industrial new orders

% change compared with previous month

Seasonally adjusted
: Data not available
c Confidential

Industrial new orders

% change compared with same month of previous year

Gross data
: Data not available
c Confidential

Industrial new orders indices for total manufacturing working on orders
Seasonally adjusted

(Base year 2000)

: Data not available
c Confidential

Industrial new orders indices for total manufacturing working on orders excluding NACE 35⁴
Seasonally adjusted

(Base year 2000)

Industrial new orders indices for total manufacturing working on orders
Gross data

(Base year 2000)

: Data not available
c Confidential

Industrial new orders indices for total manufacturing working on orders excluding NACE 35⁴
Gross data

(Base year 2000)

Annex: New activity classification and base year to be implemented
in Short-term business statistics

In order to improve the quality of Short-term business statistics (STS), and starting with the publication of data for the reference month January 2009, STS indicators will be published by Eurostat using a new classification and with a new base year.

The five STS indicators regularly covered by Eurostat News Releases are: industrial producer prices, retail trade turnover, industrial production, production in construction and industrial new orders. Data for January 2009 will be published progressively through March 2009.

The scope and breakdown of the STS indicators are generally defined in relation to the NACE, the European standard classification of productive economic activities. A new version of this classification, NACE rev. 2, is in the process of being implemented in STS. While the overall characteristics remain unchanged, the new NACE will modernise the classification underlying statistics like STS, above all by introducing new detail reflecting important new industries or old industries that have increased their economic or social relevance (such as the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products, or the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations). Simultaneously with the change in the classification, the base year for the indices will be updated from 2000 to 2005 in order to reflect a more recent economic structure.

According to first analyses, changes due to the new classification are not expected to have a major impact on the development of the main aggregates (such as total industry and main industrial groupings) published in the News Releases. The move of the base year, from 2000 to 2005, with associated changes in the weights of expanding or declining industries, could have more impact. However, a numerical assessment of the overall effect of these changes will be possible only when first data become available for the Member States, the EU and the euro area.
For more information on NACE rev 2, refer to:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/pls/portal/url/page/PGP_DS_NACE_REV_2/PGE_DS_NACE_REV_2
Full detail and historical time series according to the new classification will be made available under:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=2493,58414221,2493_58418824&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL