Mood among Dutch manufacturers improving

In August, Dutch manufacturers were clearly less negative than in July. The producer confidence index stood at -9.3, as against -14.8 in July. This indicator shows a clear recovery after an all-time low in February. Despite the strong improvement, the mood remains negative.

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.

Manufacturers were far less pessimistic with respect to their future output than in July, but the number of Dutch manufacturers expecting output to decrease was still higher than those expecting an increase. Although their opinions on their order position improved, they remain very negative. Their opinions on their stocks of finished products did not change.

On balance, the value of orders received over the past three months still decreased, but the number of manufacturers reporting a downturn became lower. The order position index (orders received expressed in months of work) improved marginally from 98.4 in July to 99.1 in August. Manufacturers were still very pessimistic about future employment in their branch, but not to the same extent as in preceding months.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry