Producer confidence unchanged

The long-term average over the past two decades is 1.0. Producer confidence reached an all-time high (10.9) in February 2018 and an all-time low (-23.5) in February 2009. Optimism has prevailed among Dutch manufacturers since October 2014.

More positive about future output, less positive about orders and stocks

In August, Dutch manufacturers are more positive about their future output. However, they are less positive about their stocks of finished products and their order positions than in the previous month.

All component indicators of producer confidence are positive. Manufacturers who anticipate output growth over the next three months outnumber those expecting output decline. More manufacturers consider their order position to be strong rather than weak, given the time of year. There are also more manufacturers who define their current stocks of finished products as too small rather than too large.

Producers of textiles, clothes and leather the most positive

In August, producers in the textiles, clothing and leather industry have the most optimistic outlook. Pessimism prevails again in the transport equipment industry.

Manufacturing output over 2 percent down in June

In June 2019, the average daily output generated by the Dutch manufacturing industry was 2.2 percent down on the same month last year. It is the fourth consecutive month of year-on-year decline.

Confidence among German manufacturers declining further

Germany is an important foreign market for the Dutch manufacturing industry. According to the IFO index, in manufacturing the business climate index has declined again substantially in August. The last time industrial companies demonstrated such pessimism was in the crisis year of 2009. In June, the average daily output generated by the German manufacturing industry was over 6 percent lower than in the same month last year.