Retailing (west):
Low confidence despite brightening

A strong recovery of the business situation took place in western German retailing, but both in the non-food and in the food and beverage sectors the negative judgements still dominated. Sales were above the comparable previous-year values, but inventory pressure only weakened a little. The enterprises see future business development with weakened pessimism, but this was not expressed in the still restrictive order plans. According to the survey responses, the sale prices will increase for consumer durables and non-durables in the next months, but in food and beverages they will continue to decline.