Producer confidence hardly changed

The mood among Dutch manufacturers hardly changed in June. The producer confidence indicator stood at – 4.8, compared to – 5.0 in May.

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 improved after a 3 month slide. Opinions about their stocks of finished products hardly changed. They were more pessimistic about their output in the next three months.

Just like in the preceding months, manufacturers who indicated that the value of the orders they received had grown in the past three months were outnumbered by those reporting a decline. The order position index (orders expressed in months of work) dropped to 99.6.
Manufacturers were less pessimistic about future employment in their sector than in the preceding months. The number of manufacturers anticipating staff cuts in the next three months, however, was distinctly higher than the number of manufacturers expecting employment to improve.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.