Manufacturers more pessimistic

The mood among Dutch manufacturers deteriorated in September. The producer confidence indicator stood at -6.7 versus -4.6 in August. In the preceding four months, producer confidence had remained fairly stable.

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.

Manufacturers were much more pessimistic about their future output than in August. They were also more negative about their order positions. Manufacturers’ opinions on their stocks hardly changed.

Just as in the preceding months, manufacturers who reported 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 98.6 in August to 96.8 in September.

Manufacturers were slightly more pessimistic about future employment in their sector than in August. The number of manufacturers anticipating staff cuts over the next three months was much higher than the number of manufacturers expecting employment to improve.

Producer confidence in manufacturing industry