Producer confidence drops back further

Producer confidence fell slightly in May. The indicator stood at 3.1, as against 4.6 in April. The indicator dropped because manufacturers’ opinions on their order positions deteriorated considerably. The producer confidence index declined for the second month in a row in May. In March, producer confidence had reached the highest level in three years with 5.8.

Producer confidence consists of three component indicators: manufacturers’ opinions on their order positions, the expected output in the next three months and manufacturers’ opinions on their stocks of finished products.

Opinions on order positions deteriorated considerably, but manufactures were slightly more optimistic on their stocks of finished products in May than they were in April. Expectations on their output over the next three months hardly changed.

Just as in the preceding months, manufacturers anticipated an increase in factory gate prices over the next three months. The number of manufacturers expecting employment in their branch to rise was about the same as the number expecting employment reduction. With 104.5, the order position index (orders received expressed in months of work) was slightly below the level in April.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.