Producer confidence slightly down

The confidence among manufacturers declined slightly in February. The producer confidence indicator stood at 1.7 versus 2.7 in January.

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

Their opinions on their stocks of finished products deteriorated considerably. More manufacturers judged their stocks as too large than too small, whereas in January it was precisely the other way round. Their opinions on their order books and their expectations on future output, on the other hand, were a bit more optimistic.

Dutch manufacturers reported an increase in the value of orders received. At 104.2, the order position index (orders received expressed in months of work) was slightly up. Expectations about future employment did not change much.

Dutch manufacturers expected selling prices to rise in the next three months. More information on this can be found in the article “Producers and consumers anticipate higher prices”.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.