New orders increased

New orders for Swedish industry increased by 2.0 percent in seasonally adjusted figures in March compared to February. When comparing March of this year and the same month of the previous year, new orders decreased by 6.4 percent in working day adjusted figures.

The industry sub-sectors showed a mixed development in March compared to February. The most positive development was seen in the electrical equipment industry and the machinery industry. The industry for other transport equipment decreased the most. During the first quarter new orders in total decreased by 1.7 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011.

New orders from the domestic market decreased by 2.2 percent in March compared to February. During the first quarter new orders decreased by 1.2 percent compared to the fourth quarter.

New orders from the export market increased by 5.0 percent in March compared to February. During the first quarter new orders decreased by 2.0 percent compared to the fourth quarter.

On an annual basis new orders in total continued to decrease. In March new orders decreased by 6.4 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. The corresponding comparison in the domestic market results in a decrease of 4.4 percent while in the export market we see a decrease of 7.8 percent.

The figures for March are preliminary. Since the previous publication the change in new orders in February compared to January has been revised upwards by 0.6 percentage points to a decrease of 4.9 percent. The change in new orders between February of this year and the same month of the previous year has been revised upwards by 0.7 percentage points to a decrease of 7.6 percent.

Percent changes in new orders

NACE 2007	INDUSTRY TITLE	Share of value added 2010	Mar/Feb 2012 ^[1]			Jan-Mar 2012/ Oct-Dec 2011 ^[1]			Mar 2012/ Mar 2011 ^[2]
			Tot	Dom	Exp	Tot	Dom	Exp	Tot	Dom	Exp
B+C	Mines and quarries and manufacturing industry	100.0	2.0	‑2.2	5.0	‑1.7	‑1.2	‑2.0	‑6.4	‑4.4	‑7.8
-	Intermediate goods industry	43.8	2.8	1.1	4.0	‑1.6	‑0.4	‑2.6	‑0.9	‑4.4	1.7
-	Energy excl. NACE rev 2. Section D	1.1	‑10.4	‑5.7	‑17.5	17.5	9.7	32.3	0.1	7.3	‑9.2
-	Capital goods industry	32.2	0.1	‑7.7	3.2	‑0.9	‑5.3	1.0	‑10.0	‑10.4	‑9.8
-	Non-durable consumer goods industry	20.4	9.3	0.1	34.5	‑7.5	‑0.1	‑19.3	‑8.8	0.8	‑23.3
-	Durable consumer goods industry	2.5	‑2.0	‑2.2	‑2.0	0.9	4.9	‑3.6	‑11.2	‑5.7	‑16.7
B	Mines and quarries	6.1	3.0	10.8	‑6.2	‑3.3	‑2.2	‑4.6	19.7	6.4	43.0
C	Manufacturing industry	93.9	2.0	‑2.5	5.2	‑1.6	‑1.1	‑2.0	‑6.9	‑4.6	‑8.2
10-12	Food product, beverage and tobacco industry	7.8	0.3	0.3	0.6	0.3	‑0.5	4.9	1.3	0.8	3.9
13-15	Industry for textile and leather products	0.8	9.7	4.9	15.2	‑0.6	0.5	‑1.5	1.9	1.1	2.6
16	Industry for wood and wood products	4.0	‑3.9	1.7	‑10.6	‑0.8	‑0.3	‑1.4	‑0.5	‑4.7	6.5
17	Industry for pulp, paper and paper products	6.8	1.6	0.2	1.9	2.1	‑0.3	2.7	0.0	‑9.6	2.6
18	Industry for printing and reproduction of recorded media	2.2	1.2	0.7	7.6	‑1.6	‑1.0	‑8.1	‑1.2	‑0.8	‑6.0
19	Industry for coke and refined petroleum products	1.1	‑10.4	‑5.7	‑17.5	17.5	9.7	32.3	0.1	7.3	‑9.2
20	Industry for chemicals	4.2	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
21	Industry for basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations	9.0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
22	Industry for rubber and plastic products	3.0	‑0.8	0.2	‑2.0	‑1.4	‑3.6	1.0	‑9.5	‑13.8	‑4.2
23	Industry for other non-metallic mineral products	2.5	5.9	5.4	7.5	‑0.6	0.7	‑5.3	3.5	6.4	‑4.5
24	Industry for basic metals	5.8	‑1.1	5.3	‑3.9	1.3	2.3	0.8	‑8.1	‑8.4	‑8.0
25	Industry for manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment	9.1	‑2.7	‑3.6	‑1.0	‑1.0	4.0	‑10.4	‑16.8	‑4.9	‑34.2
26	Industry for manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products	6.9	‑3.2	‑3.7	‑3.2	10.0	4.7	10.7	‑5.7	6.3	‑6.9
27	Industry for manufacture of electrical equipment	4.5	35.4	‑2.3	69.3	‑20.9	‑11.0	‑27.1	5.0	‑7.9	12.1
28	Industry for machinery and equipment n.e.c.	11.0	12.4	‑3.7	18.7	‑5.2	‑0.7	‑6.8	‑0.3	2.2	‑0.9
29	Industry for motor vehicles	6.2	2.6	2.3	2.9	‑7.4	‑15.2	‑2.7	‑14.6	‑15.1	‑14.2
30	Industry for other transport equipment	2.5	‑39.2	‑55.4	4.6	10.8	20.5	‑3.7	‑13.5	‑23.2	12.3
31-33	Industry for other manufacturing, repair and installation of machinery and equipment	6.4	‑10.4	‑8.9	‑12.2	0.7	‑2.7	5.5	‑13.5	‑13.5	‑13.6

.. = classified information.

1) Working day and seasonally adjusted figures
2) Working day adjusted figures

Definitions and explanations

Percentage change
All comparisons between successive periods are based on working day adjusted and seasonally adjusted index numbers in constant prices. Comparisons between the current period and the corresponding period of the previous year are based on working day adjusted index numbers in constant prices.

Revisions
When the new orders index and the delivery index for a new month are published, the index for previous months is also revised. The material is normally revised for five months retroactively. This is mainly due to new and revised information having been received. The seasonally adjusted series and the trend series are always revised from January 2000 and onwards.

Seasonal adjustment
Procedure
When seasonally adjusting the new orders and deliveries in industry, every series is individually seasonally adjusted using the Tramo Seats program. Tramo-Seats was introduced for deliveries and orders in the publication on data for January 2011. Tramo-Seats is recommended by Eurostat for seasonal adjustment of official statistics.

An important part of this method is to identify a model for the actual time series for each industry. These models are used for forecasts of the actual Industrial new orders and deliveries for two years forward and the forecasts are used in the seasonal adjustments. Because the forecasts are completely dependent on the choice of the model, this may cause revisions of seasonally adjusted data to a greater or lesser extent. To reduce the effects of revisions in seasonally adjusted data, Statistics Sweden has chosen to follow Eurostat's recommendation to use fixed models during the period of one year. According to Eurostat recommendations, seasonal adjustments should be reviewed at least once every year, including the selection of models. This recommendation has been applied by Statistics Sweden to for example the National Accounts and Industrial production index.

Model review
A new model review was conducted in connection with the publication in April 2012 concerning data for February 2012. This was due to the correction of the original series published in March 2012.

Models for a number of series were changed in connection with the review, mostly because the models are no longer optimally adapted for the input data. Due to the change in the model, revisions occur in the seasonally adjusted data to a greater or lesser extent, even back in time. There have been some major model changes for several industries.

The next review of the model is planned to take place in connection with the publishing concerning January 2013.

International comparisons
For international comparisons please refer to Eurostat.
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/short_term_business_statistics/introduction