(Bloomberg) -- German factory orders unexpectedly dropped in March and February was revised lower, confirming a weak start to the year in Europe’s largest economy and raising concern over the strength of the euro-area growth.

Orders slid 0.9 percent, compared with a median estimate for a 0.5 percent increase in a Bloomberg survey. With February’s figure revised to minus 0.2 percent from a gain of 0.3 percent, orders have now dropped for three straight months for the first time since 2015.

The continued slump, despite record-low unemployment and signs that wage growth is picking up, meshes with a pattern of weak data across the euro area that has prompted the European Central Bank to hold off from discussions on ending its stimulus measures. While the German figures may signal that factories are running into capacity constraints that will take time to overcome, they might also reflect a fundamental slowdown in demand.

The growth in orders in the first quarter has been “gentler” after a dynamic expansion in the second half of 2017, but “companies’ order books are still very well-filled,” the Economy Ministry said in a statement.

Export orders slid 2.6 percent, with a 3 percent decline from the euro zone and 2.5 percent drop outside the currency bloc. Domestic orders climbed 1.5 percent. Total orders rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier.

Orders for investment goods decreased 1.8 percent, though those for consumer goods rose 2.2 percent.

The Bundesbank has so far brushed off concerns, citing exceptional factors including strikes and a flu epidemic. Still, a purchasing managers index published Friday came in weaker than expected as services activity cooled.

(Updates with comment from the Economy Ministry in fourth paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Piotr Skolimowski in Frankfurt at pskolimowski@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net.

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