BERLIN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- New orders received by German manufacturers fell sharply in April, mainly due to weak demand from countries outside the euro zone, official data showed on Monday.
Adjusted for seasonal and working-day swings, German factory orders declined by 2 percent in April, following a revised monthly increase of 2.6 percent in March, said German federal statistics office Destatis.
It was the biggest monthly drop since July 2015, and mainly due to weak foreign demand.
According to Destatis, domestic orders increased by 1.3 percent in April, foreign orders decreased by 4.3 percent on the previous month. New orders from countries outside the euro zone plunged by 8.3 percent, while orders within the common currency area were up by 2.5 percent.
The German Economy Ministry said the weak start in the second quarter was mainly resulted by fluctuation of capital goods orders from non-euro zone countries, adding that the overall trend of manufacturing orders was still pointing upward.
