FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--New orders for Germany's plant and machinery industry plunged 49% on the year in February, industry group VDMA said Wednesday.
Domestic orders slipped 45%, while foreign orders were down 50% in February against the same month of 2008, VDMA said in a statement.
The data are another sign that activity in the euro zone's largest economy is slowing.
VDMA also said it expects machinery production to fall by between 10% and 20% in real terms in 2009.
"Of course, the fact that we have to lower our forecast after six weeks again, is also extremely disappointing for us," said VDMA Managing Director Hannes Hesse in the statement. "But the dramatic fall in orders and in turnover doesn't leave us with any choice," he said.
VDMA said Feb. 10 that it expected production to shrink by 7% in 2009 after an increase of 5.4% in 2008.
In the three-month period from December 2008 to February 2009, which balances out some monthly fluctuations, orders were down by 44% on the year, VDMA said. Domestic orders were down 38% and foreign orders by 46% on the year in the period, it added.
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