Construction (Germany):
Scepticsm continues to grow

The worsening of the current business situation in the construction industry may be traced to the unfavourable developments in civil engineering. On the other hand, scepticism increased in building construction - in all its three lines, especially residential construction. Average equipment utilisation increased a bit and, at 70 %, reached the level of the same month a year ago. The scope of order stocks remained unchanged; at 2.5 production months, it was even a bit smaller than a year earlier. Well over one third of the survey panel continued to be unsatisfied with order activity. According to the responses, price increases will be possible less frequently in coming months. Staff additions were only considered sporadically. In east Germany, too, the downward trend in the business situation resulted from the much more critical assessments in civil engineering, whereas in building construction the assessments worsened only marginally. At 74 %, equipment utilisation was as high as in the preceding month, but lower than a year earlier (76 %). Order stocks increased slightly in building construction, whereas they declined in civil engineering. They amounted to 2.1 months' output on the average of all building categories and thus matched those of a year earlier. The scope for price increases will narrow further, according to the construction firms surveyed.