More pessimism among Dutch manufacturers

The mood among Dutch manufacturers deteriorated somewhat in July. The producer confidence indicator stood at -5.2 versus -4.8 in June.

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

Manufacturers were more pessimistic about their stocks of finished products in July than in June. Their opinions about their output over the next three months, on the other hand, were slightly less negative than in the preceding month. Manufacturers’ opinions on their order positions hardly changed.

Just like in the preceding months, manufacturers who indicated that the value of the orders they received had grown in the past three months were outnumbered by those reporting a decline. The order position index (orders expressed in months of work) dropped from 99.6 in June to 99.2 in July.

Manufacturers were also more pessimistic about future employment in their sector than in June. With -11.5, on balance, the number of manufacturers anticipating staff cuts over the next three months was distinctly higher than the number of manufacturers expecting employment to improve.

The Dutch manufacturing industry used slightly more of its available production capacity in July than in April. The capacity utilisation rate climbed from 78 to 79 percent. In July, one quarter of manufacturers considered insufficient demand as an obstacle to production, just as in April. One in every two manufacturers stated they were not hampered by factors limiting production. The number of manufacturers considering their production capacity as too large virtually equalled the number considering it as too small.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.