Wholesaling (Germany):
Cautious order plans

The survey participants in wholesaling reported a more unfavourable business situation. Turnover was assessed as worse and inventories seen as too large. For this reason the surveyed firms plan to continue to exercise caution in placing orders. This development applies equally to consumer goods wholesaling and to the industrial B2B sector. Wholesalers of durable consumer goods in particular complained of excess inventories. Wholesalers of textiles and wholesalers of clothing have considerably high inventories. The share of survey participants that plan to raise prices has fallen on the whole. Especially in food and beverages, the tendency towards further price increases is weakening. On the whole, wholesalers are somewhat more sceptical regarding the six-month outlook than they were in August.