Mood among manufacturers continues to worsen

The mood among Dutch manufacturers deteriorated further in November. Sentiments about future output, in particular were more negative. The producer confidence indicator dropped from –3.2 in October to – 4.8 in November. The manufacturing industry has not been this depressed for almost two years.

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

The drop in producer confidence can be attributed entirely to manufacturers’ much more pessimistic view on future output, which deteriorated considerably. Manufacturers were somewhat more optimistic about their order positions. Opinions on stocks of finished products hardly changed.

For the fifth month in a row, manufacturers expecting employment in their branch to increase in the next three months were outnumbered by those expecting staff to be reduced. In this period, the group expecting employment to decline has steadily grown.

Manufacturers indicated that the value of orders received has fallen slightly in recent months. At 100.5, the order position index (orders expressed in terms of months of work) was somewhat up on October.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.