Good news for Italian industry in March. According to data released today by the European statistics office Eurostat, new orders increased by 4,5% compared to the previous month. An auspicious result: compared to March 2010 there is a growth in orders of 22,2%. The seasonally adjusted index which assumes 2005 as a base year leaps from 112 to 117,1, a level not far from the peaks reached before the crisis.
Surprisingly, the German locomotive slows down: -3,4% compared to February 2011. Among the big names, France (-0,7%) and the United Kingdom (-2,5%) are also in trouble. Even double-digit decreases in Denmark and Ireland, -22,3 and -13% respectively. Finland, Sweden, Poland and the Czech Republic went against the trend. Compared to the previous year, the figure for Italy beats that of the main trading partners, while the United Kingdom, Ireland and Greece show worrying drops in demand, with values close to - 10%. From the Eurozone as a whole, the monthly and annual changes are -1,8% and +14,1%.
Just ten days after the data on industrial output, Eurostat paints an ambiguous picture of Italian manufacturing: orders are growing above the EU average and in line with the German economy, while production is still at a standstill, very far from pre-crisis levels. (fs)
