Manufacturers more pessimistic

The mood among Dutch manufacturers deteriorated further in April. The producer confidence indicator stood at – 3.3 compared with – 2.6 in March.

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

Manufacturers’ opinions on their order positions deteriorated slightly. Manufacturers were also slightly more pessimistic about their future output than in March. Opinions on stocks of finished products did not change.

Manufacturers indicating that the value of the orders they received has grown in the past three months were outnumbered by those who reported a decline. With 101.7, the order position index (orders expressed in months of work) was down on March.

Just as in the preceding months, the number of manufacturers anticipating staff cuts in the next three months was higher than the number of manufacturers expecting employment to improve. The difference was larger than in the preceding month.

At 77.9 percent, the capacity utilisation rate in April was more than 1 percent point below the level of January. Just as in January, one quarter of manufacturers considered insufficient demand as an obstacle to production. The number of manufacturers considering their production capacity as too large equalled the number considering it as too small. Dutch manufacturers indicated that their competitive position has improved somewhat in the past three months.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.