Manufacturing (Germany):
Less optimistic export expectations

No change was indicated in the favourable business situation in manufacturing. A slight weakening in intermediate products and consumer goods was offset by an upswing in capital goods production. The rise in demand and manufacturing slowed down somewhat but order stocks were still evaluated positively, on the whole. Responses regarding excess inventories still played only a minor role; the manufacturers of durable consumer goods again reported delivery bottlenecks. With regard to the business outlook for the coming half year, optimism weakened insignificantly, and in capital and consumer goods it even increased again some-what. The confident export expectations were revised downward rather more clearly. Production plans pointed to further increases but such responses were not as frequent as in July. According to the survey participants, prices will continue to rise in the coming months, probably at a faster pace, especially for intermediate products and for food and beverages. Some firms reported plans to hire new staff. In eastern German manufacturing the favourable assessments of the business situation gained ground to a certain extent. More new orders were booked than in the previous month and production has been stepped up. Order reserves are nearly at a normal level. As before the survey participants look to the future confi-dently, not least thanks to still good opportunities on foreign markets. Production plans are even a little more frequently expansive, even though slightly excess in-ventories were reported. Firms also expect the employment situation to improve.