Sharecast - Orders slid by 11.7% on the month following a revised 7.6% jump in June, and versus expectations of a 4% decline.
On the year, factory orders were down 10.5% in July following a revised 3.3% increase in June.
Destatis said that much of the sharp decline in new orders was due to a very large order reported in the manufacture of air and spacecraft in June. New orders excluding large-scale orders were up 0.3% in July compared with the previous month.
The data showed that new orders in the capital goods sector - including large-scale orders - were down 15.9% on the month in July. In the intermediate goods sector, orders fell by 4.5%, while orders for consumer goods were down 8.2%.
Foreign orders fell 12.9%, with new orders from the eurozone down 24.4%, those from the rest of the world down 4.1% and domestic orders 9.7% lower.
Claus Vistesen, chief eurozone economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "It is difficult to pick through the pieces of these data at this point except to say factory orders, ex major orders, are moving sideways, and still remain well off their pace compared to the level at the start of the year."
