Sentiment in the German Automotive Industry Darkens Further
The business climate in Germany’s automotive industry deteriorated again in July. The indicator fell to -18.3 points from -9.5* in June. “The automotive industry is sliding further into crisis,” says Anita Wölfl from the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies.
The worse sentiment stems from both the assessment of the current business situation and expectations for the next six months. The indicator for the business situation fell by 10 points, from +3.2* points to -6.8 in July. The expectations indicator dropped to -29.1 points from -21.3* points in June.
“A significant improvement is probably not to be expected in the coming months,” says Wölfl. Capacity utilization has fallen to 77.7%, putting it nine percentage points below the long-term average. 43.1% of businesses report a lack of orders, down from 29.2% in April. No positive impetus from abroad is expected either. Export expectations fell to -16.8 points, which is more than 13 points lower than in the previous month.
*Seasonally adjusted
Publication
ifo Konjunkturperspektiven is a monthly German-language online publication that presents the latest results from ifo’s business surveys in the form of graphics and tables.
