Orders in the 12 months to March 2002 were unchanged compared with orders in the previous 12 months while for the first quarter they rose by 2% compared with the same quarter a year earlier and by 18% compared with the previous quarter. Extremely high orders in the infrastructure sector accounted for most of the rises. There were also more orders for the public non-housing and private housing sectors.

Private housing orders in the 12 months to March rose by 1% compared with the previous 12-month period. In the first quarter they rose by 9% compared with the previous quarter and by 3% compared with the same quarter a year ago.

Infrastructure orders in the 12 months fell by 3% compared with the previous 12 months. But orders in the first quarter of 2002 were 115% higher than in the previous quarter and 14% higher than in the same quarter a year earlier. This was due to the high level of orders in the roads and other sectors in March.

Public non-housing orders (excluding infrastructure) were 18% up on the year with orders in the first quarter 14% higher than in the previous quarter and 38% up on the same quarter a year earlier.

Private commercial orders in the year were 3% down while for the quarter they were 6% lower than the previous quarter and 13% lower than in the same quarter a year earlier.

Private industrial orders were down 10% on the 12 months and in the first quarter were 11% lower than in the previous quarter and 27% down on the same quarter a year earlier.