European Union (EU) industry has benefited from a rise in new orders of 2.4 per cent during June.

This is according to new figures from Eurostat, which also revealed a month-on-month climb within the eurozone of 2.5 per cent.

Compared with May, industrial new orders excluding more volatile sectors such as ships, aerospace and railways were 1.8 per cent higher across the 27 EU nations and expanded by 1.6 per cent in the euro area.

The increase reported for order books in June followed a jump of four per cent in the EU27 during May 2010 and indicates that industry is showing signs of recovery following the global downturn.

This is also evident in a 22.5 per cent year-on-year rise in demand during June 2010 throughout the EU and growth of 22.6 per cent across the eurozone.

Denmark saw the highest leap in total manufacturing working on orders of 23 per cent during June, while 16 states saw activity increase compared with four witnessing falls.

The rise in new orders comes despite Eurostat figures showing industrial production fell by 0.1 per cent within the eurozone in June and remained stable in the EU27.

Posted by Alex Donnell