Manufacturers more confident

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry improved further and was at 1.3 in September, the highest score since March 2005. In August producer confidence was still in the negative range.

Producer confidence is the mood indicator for the Dutch manufacturing industry. The figure consists of three component indicators: expected production over the next three months, manufacturers’ opinions on the stock of finished products and the order position.

Dutch manufacturers are evidently more positive in September about their order position. Besides, more producers in manufacturing industry expect output to rise in the next three months. This applies in particular to producers of investment goods. Manufacturers’ opinions on stocks of finished product are somewhat more negative.

Improved producer confidence has no positive effect on employment. Conversely, one in seven entrepreneurs expect to have to reduce the size of their workforce in the coming months, whereas only one in twenty intend to recruit new staff. These rates have hardly changed over the past eighteen months.

One in eleven manufacturers anticipate higher selling prices and one in fourteen anticipate lower prices

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry