The value of manufacturers' orders-on-hand for local production decreased 13% in February, over the year earlier.

Comparing it with February last year, the fabricated metal products industry had the largest decrease in the value of orders-on-hand (-48%), followed by the electrical products (-35%), electronic products (-27%), textiles (-10%), and plastic products (-5%).

The value of orders-on-hand in the printing and publishing industry and the apparel industry increased by 6% and 1% respectively in February 2003 over a year earlier.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the value of orders-on-hand for the three months ending February decreased by 7% compared with the three months ending November.

Orders-on-hand are usually regarded as a leading indicator of the performance of domestic exports. However, as orders placed for production outside Hong Kong are not included, manufacturers' orders-on-hand cannot be used to reflect the performance of re-exports.

The attached table shows the movement in the value of orders-on-hand in the manufacturing industries.