BERLIN (Reuters) - German plant and equipment makers' orders jumped 7% in August, driven by a surge in contracts from abroad due to one-off effects, the VDMA association said on Wednesday, cautioning that the situation had not yet hit the bottom.
Overall, orders were up 7% in real terms on the year in August, following a 5% decline in July. Domestic orders fell 7% while foreign contracts were 13% higher.
Extremely weak figures in the same month last year meant the comparative basis was favourable and firms also benefited from the big plant business from outside the euro zone, which was 18% higher, said the VDMA.
Orders from the euro zone, however, stagnated, said VDMA economic expert Olaf Wortmann.
"Overall, despite this outlier, incoming orders have not yet bottomed out," said Wortmann.
In the less-volatile three-month period from June to August, orders were 3% lower overall, with a 6% fall in domestic contracts and 1% decline in those from abroad.
Germany was the worst performing major economy last year, shrinking by 0.3%, and leading institutes have cut their forecast for this year, last week saying they expect Europe's biggest economy to contract 0.1%.
AUGUST CHANGE
overall +7% y/y
of which German -7% y/y
foreign +13% y/y
JUNE TO AUGUST -3% y/y
of which German -6% y/y
foreign -1% y/y
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers, Editing by Rachel More)
