Manufacturers remain optimistic

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry was 7.6 in July. The index is 0.8 percentage points down on June, but manufacturers are still positive. The index reflecting the mood among producers in manufacturing industry has remained high for more than a year now.

Producer confidence consists 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. Manufacturers were slightly more optimistic about future production than in June. The order position indicator decreased somewhat, but remained positive. The indicator denoting the stock of finished products also declined marginally in July.

Producers indicating an increase in the number of orders received outnumbered those who think order receipts have declined. Especially on the domestic market, the number of order received increased substantially. The order position index (orders received expressed in months of work) remained almost the same at 112.9.

Manufacturers were also optimistic with respect to employment. In July, the number of manufacturers who expected to have to recruit new staff marginally outnumbered those who expected to have to cut back on staff.

The competitive position on the domestic market and the EU market has improved further according to the manufacturers. On the non-EU market, they thought their competitive position had not changed. 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 83.5 in July.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry