Producer confidence hardly changed

Producer confidence is still higher than the long-term average of 1.1. It reached an all-time high (12.7) in November 2021 and an all-time low (-28.7) in April 2020.

Opinion about order positions deteriorated

Manufacturers are less positive about their order positions. However, they are slightly less negative about their future output and they are somewhat less negative about their current stocks.

The majority of manufacturers consider their order position to be strong rather than weak, given the time of year. However, manufacturers who anticipate output to decrease over the next three months outnumber those expecting an increase. In addition, more manufacturers define their current stock of finished products as too large rather than too small.

Confidence down in over half of industries

In October, producer confidence is lower than in the previous month in over half of industries. Just as in the previous months, confidence in the electrotechnical and machinery industry is by far the highest. Manufacturers in the transport, textile and metal industry are positive as well.

Capacity utilisation rate lower

The industrial capacity utilisation rate stood at 82.7 percent at the start of Q4 2022. This is lower than in the previous quarter and in the previous year.

The percentage of manufacturers who say that they experience production limitations has never been so high since the start of the survey. Most often they mention staff shortages (29.4 percent), a shortage of materials and/or equipment (26.3 percent) and insufficient demand (12.4 percent).

Manufacturing output nearly 6 percent up in August

In August 2022, the average daily output generated by the Dutch manufacturing industry was up by 5.9 percent on August 2021. Growth has been fairly stable over the past three months, but smaller than in the preceding months.

Producer confidence in Germany deteriorated further

Germany is an important market for the Dutch manufacturing industry. In October, German producer confidence according to the Business Climate Index of the IFO Institute fell again;companies are more pessimistic about the coming six months. Capacity utilisation fell from 85.3 to 84.6 percent. In August, the average daily output generated by the German manufacturing industry increased by 3 percent year on year, as reported by Destatis.