Industrial orders in the euro zone rose 2.1 percent in December, compared with the previous month, the European Union (EU)'s statistics office Eurostat said Wednesday.
It was the third consecutive month that eurozone industrial orders grew. Revised figures showed industrial orders in the 16 EU nations that used the euro in 2010 increased by 2.2 percent on a monthly basis.
Excluding ships, railway and aerospace equipment, for which changes tend to be more volatile, eurozone industrial orders increased in December by 1.3 percent.
Month on month, eurozone orders for capital goods rose by 3.7 percent in December, while intermediate goods and non-durable consumer goods increased by 2.4 percent and 1.9 percent respectively. Durable consumer goods fell by 2.3 percent.
Compared with December 2009, industrial orders in the eurozone grew 18.5 percent, while total industry excluding ships, railway and aerospace equipment rose 18.9 percent.
For the 27-nation EU, industrial orders increased 2.5 percent in December, compared with November, and 18.5 percent year on year.
Among those member states for which data were available, total manufacturing working on orders rose in 15 and fell in seven on monthly basis. The highest increase was registered in Estonia, up 26.4 percent, while the largest decrease in Hungary, down 18.5 percent.