Core private-sector machinery orders plunged a seasonally adjusted 16.7 percent in July from the previous month, their biggest fall in 19 years, the government said Monday, but it downplayed the decline as a reaction to a surge in June.

The fall is the biggest since the government began compiling data in April 1987, the Cabinet Office said. The figure was weaker than the average market forecast of a 5.3 percent drop.

Core machinery orders for the month totaled 1.009 trillion yen. In June, orders were up 8.5 percent from the previous month.