Manufacturing output 3 percent up in March

Output growth in more than half of the industries

In March, more than half of all industries saw their output increase on an annual basis. The transport equipment industry achieved the highest growth. This is partly because a number of companies in this sector closed their factories completely in the last weeks of March last year.

Manufacturing output bounces back

A more accurate picture of short-term output developments is obtained when figures are adjusted for seasonal effects and the working-day pattern. After adjustments, an increase of 3.1 percent is seen in manufacturing output between February and March 2021.

Adjusted for seasonal and working-day effects, manufacturing output is seen to fluctuate significantly. From mid-2014 until the beginning of 2018, the overall trend was upward. Subsequently, the trend has been downward. A low point was reached in May 2020. After that, output picked up again.

Producer confidence at highest level in two years

In April 2021, the mood among Dutch manufacturers improved further and producer confidence reached its highest level in two years. The industrial capacity utilisation rate stood at 81.7 percent at the start of Q2 2021. This was higher than at the start of Q1, but still lower than before the coronavirus crisis.

Germany is an important foreign market for the Dutch manufacturing industry. In April, German producer confidence improved to the highest level in three years, according to the Business Climate Index of the IFO Institute. Companies reported greatly improved business, but optimism declined with regard to future output. In March, the average daily output generated by the German manufacturing industry grew by almost 6 percent year-on-year, as reported by Destatis.