Frankfurt  - Accenting the steep fall in the world economy, orders taken by the German heavy machinery industry sagged 40 per cent in year-on-year terms in December, the VDMA trade association said Tuesday in Frankfurt.

In real terms, orders from German customers fell 39 per cent while non-German orders fell by 41 per cent compared to December 2007. In November, the year-on-year decline had been 30 per cent.

The VDMA represents engineering companies that install plant and heavy machines and compiles the data from members' reports.

The group, which had previously expected this year's sales to stagnate, forecast that machinery sales by the German industry in 2009 would decline 7 per cent in the course of 2009.

Last year, VDMA member companies sold 194 billion euros (252 billion dollars) worth of plant and machinery, up 5.4 per cent. (dpa)