BERLIN: Strong domestic demand for consumer goods propelled a bigger than expected jump in German industrial orders in March, data showed on Thursday, suggesting that manufacturers in Europe's largest economy will support a recovery in the second quarter.

The data published by the Federal Statistics Offices showed orders for industrial goods jumped on the month by 3% in seasonally adjusted terms.

This easily beat a Reuters forecast of 1.7% and came after an upwardly revised increase of 1.4% in February and a rise of 0.8% in January.

Domestic orders in March rose by 4.9% on the month while foreign bookings increased by 1.6%.

The strong increase was driven by an unusually large number of major contracts.

Without this effect, orders were up by 1.6%, the office said.

Looking at industrial sectors, the increase in the headline figure was mainly driven by strong demand for consumer goods which jumped by 8.5%, the economy ministry said.

Bookings for intermediate goods were up by 2.8% and those for capital goods rose by 2.5%.

Orders were particularly high in the sectors of mechanical engineering, manufacturing of data processing equipment and electronic and optical products, the ministry said.

In a sign that manufacturers are partly overcoming supply bottlenecks with semiconductors and other industrial components, real industrial sales rose in March by 2% on the month in calendar-adjusted terms, the statistics office said.