Manufacturers slightly less pessimistic

The mood among Dutch manufacturers improved somewhat in August. The producer confidence indicator stood at -4.6 versus -5.2 in July.

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

Manufacturers were slightly less pessimistic about their output over the next three months and their stocks. Opinions on order positions hardly changed.

Just as 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 from 99.2 in July to 98.6 in August.

Manufacturers were slightly less pessimistic about future employment in their sector than in July. However, the number of manufacturers anticipating staff cuts over the next three months was still much higher than the number of manufacturers expecting employment to improve.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.