Swedish industrial production, new orders decrease in February

STOCKHOLM, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Industrial production and new orders in Sweden both suffered big falls in February, according to preliminary estimates released Thursday by Statistics Sweden.

The total industrial production decreased 22.9 percent in February compared to the same month in the previous year, while new orders for Swedish industry fell by 30 percent compared to February 2008, the government agency said in a statement.

During the period from December to February, production in the capital goods industry fell by 10.6 percent in comparison with the preceding period and production in the intermediate goods industry decreased by 18.3 percent.

The big fall in industrial new orders in February reflected a 22.2 percent drop in the domestic market and a 35.6 percent drop in the export market, Statistics Sweden said.