German plant and machinery orders declined for a fifth month in March as domestic demand dropped, the VDMA machine-makers’ association said.

Orders, adjusted for inflation, fell 4 percent from a year earlier after declining an annual 16 percent in February, the Frankfurt-based VDMA said in an e-mailed statement today. Domestic orders sank 9 percent, while export orders slipped 2 percent. In the three months through March, orders decreased 9 percent compared to the same period a year ago.

While there are signs of stabilization, “caution remains advisable,” VDMA chief economist Ralph Wiechers said in a statement. He said that orders from the euro area plunged 17 percent in March.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Brockett in Frankfurt at mbrockett1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net