BRUSSELS, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The eurozone industrial new orders dropped by 0.8 percent month on month in March and by 26.9 percent year on year, the European Union (EU)'s statistics bureau Eurostat said Tuesday.

    In February, the monthly index remained unchanged.

    Excluding ships, railway and aerospace equipment, for which changes tend to be more volatile, industrial new orders fell 0.2 percent over the previous month in the euro area in March and by 26.6 percent over a year ago.

    In March, new orders for non-durable consumer goods recorded the largest monthly drop of 2.5 percent, while capital goods fell 2.1 percent. Durable consumer goods decreased by 1.8 percent and new orders for intermediate goods declined by 1.6 percent.

    In the 27-nation EU, industrial new orders declined by 0.7 percent month on month and by 25.5 percent compared with the same period of 2008.

    Among the member states for which data were available, total manufacturing working on orders rose in eight and fell in 13 on monthly basis.

    The highest increase was registered at 44 percent in Denmark. Lithuania recorded the largest decline of 8.2 percent. The index in Germany, the biggest economy in the EU, rebounded by 3.3 percent.

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