The total value of new orders in the Slovak industry increased 6.9% y/y to EUR 3.74bn in February 2014, easing from a 9.2% annual growth in January, data from the statistics office showed.

New orders in the vehicles manufacturing industry, which accounts for almost half of total orders, grew by 6.8% y/y in February, after increasing 9.7% y/y the month before. Slovakia hosts car plants run by Germany’s Volkswagen, France’s PSA Peugeot-Citroen and South Korea’s Kia Motors.

The manufacture of computers, electronics and optics, the second most important sector for Slovakia’s export-oriented economy, recorded 18.3% annual growth in orders in February, speeding up from a 12.5% y/y rise the month before.

On a monthly basis, seasonally-adjusted industrial orders fell 2.4% in February after increasing 6.1% in January.

In 2013, the value of new industrial orders rose 3.5% y/y to EUR 42.7bn.

IntelliNews comment: Slovak industrial orders increased for the sixth month in a row in February on the back of the country’s two most important sectors – the auto and computer manufacturing industries. As the new orders data provides an insight into the future, we could expect the manufacturing industry to strengthen further in the near term. Slovakia's industrial output growth eased to 9.1% y/y in February 2014 from 12.8% y/y in January, while the annual growth in industrial sales ticked up to 4.4% from 4.3%. Slovakia’s export-fuelled economic growth is expected to accelerate to between 2.0% and 2.4% in 2014 from 0.9% in 2013.