Wholesaling (Germany):
Expectations remain positive

In wholesaling the business situation worsened slightly, but positive assessments still clearly prevail, especially in industrial B2B trade. As before the enterprises appraised their outlook confidently, but in the consumer durable area only a sideways movement is indicated for the coming months. Since stocks on hand are only assessed as too high in isolated cases, the plans of the surveyed firms point to an expansion of ordering volumes. The personnel stock will also be increased. Price increases were planned again a little more frequently than in the previous month, especially in industrial B2B trade and in food and beverages. In eastern Germany, wholesalers were no longer nearly as positive regarding their business situation as in January and were also less optimistic with regard to the six-month outlook. Order activity is set to increase in light of cleared out inventories, but hiring plans have been revised downwards strongly.