	krupp has satisfactory results the fried krupp gmbh krpg d steel and engineering group said it had a satisfactory despite a provisional pct fall in total group sales to billion marks from billion the previous year third party turnover declined to billion from billion in while orders slipped to billion marks from billion it said in a preliminary statement despite these figures which reflected the dollar s weakness against the mark and oil and raw materials price falls it said was a satisfactory year the reason was the continued expansion of the machinery and plant sector which accounted for pct of total sales krupp added that some areas of the mechanical engineering business achieved notable growth rates and acquisitions had underpinned machinery and component activities an orders decline in the steel and in particular the trading and services sectors affected the group s total order figures however all business sectors contributed to the positive results achieved in krupp added without giving details domestic orders decreased by five pct to billion marks from the previous year and foreign orders fell pct to billion it said foreign business accounted for pct of orders against pct in orders received by the machinery and plant sector member companies which comprise the core area of the group rose by four mln marks last year to billion krupp said the group s orders in hand amounted to billion marks at end december from billion at the start of the year orders received by the steel sector last year decreased by three pct to billion marks from it said the steel market weakened increasingly over the year mainly because of exchange rate movements the deterioration in foreign trade and a downturn in a number of customer industries the difficult market for sections and flats of quality steel depressed order tonnages by around seven pct krupp said but special steel boosted by strong demand for stainless cold rolled flats grew by five pct in tonnage terms reuter 
