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BERLIN (Reuters) - German plant and equipment makers' orders increased unexpectedly in February, boosted by strong domestic demand in a difficult climate, the VDMA association said on Wednesday.
Overall orders rose 8% in February compared with the samemonth last year in real terms, with German contracts jumping 11%.
Foreign orders as a whole rose 7% as bookings from the euro zone increased 4% and contracts from countries outside the currency union were up 9%, said the VDMA.
"Part of the growth is down to the big plant business and part of it comes from the components business for global production," said VDMA chief economist Ralph Wiechers, adding stocks were depleted so firms were re-ordering.
However, investments in new equipment were still far too rare, he said.
"In short, February was - finally - a good month in an unfortunately difficult environment," he said.
In the less volatile three-month period from December toFebruary, orders were up 4% overall, with a 5% decline indomestic orders and an 8% rise in foreign ones.
FEBRUARY CHANGE
overall +8% y/y
of which German +11% y/y
foreign +7% y/y
DEC TO FEB +4% y/y
of which German -5% y/y
foreign +8% y/y
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers, Editing by Rachel More)
