Construction (Germany):
Slight clouding of business climate

In construction, the negative assessments of the business situation were some-what more dominant than in the previous month. Whereas no change was re-ported in civil engineering, the situation in structural engineering deteriorated for the first time since the continuous improvement from mid-2005. With lively building activity, the equipment utilisation rate stood, as in the previous month, at 70%, some 7 percentage points higher than the previous year. The range of order stocks stood steady at 2.6 months (previous year: 2.3 months). Only few contrac-tors were satisfied with their order reserves (22% vis-à-vis 54% in August 2005). While in civil engineering the outlook brightened, the confidence of firms in struc-tural engineering decreased again. Prices have been rising and will continue to do so in coming months, according to the surveyed firms. In eastern Germany the business situation worsened in both civil and structural engineering. At 74%, the equipment utilisation rate was a little lower than in the previous month but higher than at the corresponding previous-year time. The range of order reserves, at 2.1 months, corresponded to the value of the previous month and of the previous year. The clouding of the business outlook was only for structural engineering; in civil engineering contractors were even slightly more confident.