Manufacturing (west):
Expectations more optimistic

The current business conditions in west German manufacturing continued to improve in intermediate products and investment goods, but in consumer goods, especially non-durable consumer goods, the negative appraisals had a slightly greater weight than in November. The increase in demand persisted, on average, but order reserves were still judged to be inadequate. The outlook for the coming half year, however, has not been regarded so optimistically since the end of 1994. More and more firms are setting their hopes on future export business, despite the growing strength of the euro. Their production plans are more expansive, on average.