Producer confidence plummets

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry plummeted in July. The producer confidence indicator dropped by more than 4 points from 2.0 in June to – 2.2 in July. July was the fourth month in a row, in which the mood among manufacturers deteriorated.

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

Dutch manufacturers were much more pessimistic about both their order positions and their future output than in June. Their opinions on stocks deteriorated too, but to a lesser extent.

Manufacturers were also more pessimistic about future employment in their branch than in June. In July, manufacturers expecting employment to decrease in the next three months outnumbered those expecting employment to increase. In the preceding four months, manufacturers still expected employment to rise.

With 80.9 percent, the capacity utilisation rate in July was the same as in April. The capacity utilisation rate is still low from a historic point of view. Manufacturers indicated that their competitive positions improved marginally on the Dutch as well as the foreign market. The number of manufacturers considering their production capacity as too large was slightly bigger than the number considering their production capacity as too small. Just as in the previous quarter, one in every five manufacturers considered insufficient demand as an obstacle to production.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.