The manufacture of machine tools is a key part of Germany's industrial and export performance.
In January, overall incoming orders rose by 3.0 percent compared with the same month a year earlier, VDMA said in a statement, with export orders rising by 4.0 percent, while domestic orders slipped by 0.1 percent.
Taking a three-month comparison to iron out short-term fluctuations, overall orders rose by 2.0 percent in the period from November to January.
Foreign orders increased by 3.0 percent in the three-month period while domestic orders fell by 1.0 percent, VDMA calculated.
VDMA's chief economist Ralph Wiechers noted that foreign orders in January were boosted by a large number of big-ticket orders from the euro area.