Manufacturers still very positive

25/04/2007 15:00

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry was 7.0 in April. The index is 0.1 percentage points up on March. Manufacturers are still very positive. Since the summer of 2005, producer confidence has improved considerably. With 9.0, an all-time high was recorded in October 2006. Since then, the mood indicator among manufacturers has remained consistently high.

Producer confidence is composed of three component indicators: anticipated output over the next three months, producers’ opinions about the stock of finished products and their opinions about the order position. The order position indicator improved marginally in April. Manufacturers were also optimistic about future production and stock of finished products, but marginally less than in March. Compared to March, fewer producers think they can increase output.

Producers who indicate that the number of orders received has increased outnumbered those who think order receipts have declined. The order position index (orders received expressed in months of work) increased by nearly 4 points to reach 112.3, the highest score in fifteen years. Manufacturers also remained optimistic with respect to employment. A growing majority of manufacturers expect to have to recruit staff in April.

Manufacturers think that their competitive position on the domestic market and the EU market has improved further. Their competitive position on the non-EU foreign market did not change. Manufacturers expecting an increase in foreign sales over the next three months outnumbered those who anticipated a decline. The capacity utilisation rate remained stable at 83.4 in April.