Industrial orders in Europe's largest economy Germany plunged 7.4 percent in January, preliminary official data showed Tuesday, countering a sharp upswing in the previous month.

New orders -- a closely watched indicator of future economic performance -- had increased 5.2 percent in December, adjusting for price, seasonal and calendar effects, federal statistics office Destatis confirmed.

Analysts surveyed by Factset had predicted a much smaller fall in January of 2.5 percent.