FRANKFURT (AFP) - German industrial orders, a key measure of demand for German-made goods both at home and abroad, fell again in May, underlining the still fragile state of the country's key manufacturing sector, data showed Friday.

Industrial orders fell for the second month in a row, dragged down by falling domestic demand and a below-average number of big-ticket orders, the economy ministry said in a statement.

Industrial orders dropped by 1.3 percent in May compared with April, after declining by 2.2 percent the previous month.

Analysts had been projecting an increase in May.

The ministry said that domestic orders fell by 2.0 percent and export orders were down by 0.7 percent.

By sector, orders for capital goods were down 1.8 percent and orders for semi-finished goods slipped by 0.1 percent.

Orders for consumer goods tumbled by 3.1 percent.

Taking April and May combined to iron out short-term fluctuations, overall orders were down 1.6 percent, with domestic orders falling by 3.2 percent and exports orders by 0.4 percent, the ministry calculated.