Pessimism among Dutch producers continues

In May, Dutch manufacturers were equally pessimistic as in the preceding month. With -17.3, producer confidence hardly changed.  In the past two months, the indicator increased somewhat.

Producer confidence consists of three component indicators: expected output in the next three months, producers’ opinions on their stocks of finished products and their opinions on their order books.

In May, manufacturers were slightly more pessimistic with respect to their future output than one month previously.  Compared to April, the number of Dutch manufacturers expecting output to decrease was marginally higher than those expecting an increase. Manufacturers were less pessimistic about their stocks of finished products. Their opinions on their order positions also remained negative.

Manufacturers were as pessimistic about future employment in their branch as in April. The value of orders received, on the other hand, declined further in the past three months. The order position index (orders received expressed in months of work) decreased from 102.0 in April to 100.7 in May.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry