New contracts were down 2.6 percent month-on-month as the year started, statistics authority Destatis said in seasonally-adjusted figures. That was well short of the modest 0.5 percent increase forecast by analysts surveyed by Factset.
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But the effect was slightly compensated by dramatically revised figures for December, which showed a 0.9-percent increase in orders where initially the statisticians reported of -1.6 percent, as a number of large contracts were reported late.
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The "present ebbing in orders is a sign of a continuing economic slowdown in industry at the start of the year," the economy ministry in Berlin acknowledged. The ministry also noted that the fall was less marked in a two-month comparison, with orders in December-January 0.5 percent below those in October-November.
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Recent months have seen high volatility in orders data as uncertainty over trade tensions and a possible no-deal British exit from the European Union, weakness in important emerging markets like China and a slowdown in economic growth have made themselves felt.
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January's data were weighed down by a 4.2-percent reduction in orders from outside the 19-nation eurozone and a 2.6-percent fall in business from Germany's neighbours in the currency bloc.
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Meanwhile domestic demand also fell back, by 1.2 percent. And looking to different industrial sectors, makers of producer, consumer and capital goods all reported fewer new contracts.
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"We need to put the drop (in January) into perspective," Berenberg bank economist Florian Hense commented, highlighting the December revision, higher industrial sales and a 5.7-month backlog of orders.
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But "it will take some easing of trade tensions, better news out of China and an end to the hard Brexit risk to stop the downturn," he predicted.
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