In June, the industrial orders data had shown an increase of 1.8 percent.

While domestic orders rose by 3.6 percent month-on-month in July, foreign orders slumped by 7.4 percent, with orders from customers outside the eurozone down by as much as 10.2 percent, the economy ministry said in a statement.

Even though "the momentum in orders has been weakening in recent months, the overall trend remains upwards," the ministry insisted.

The volatility in the data is largely attributable to big-ticket orders, such as transport. Without these, industrial orders would have only declined by 0.2 percent month-on-month, the ministry added.