Wholesaling (Germany):
Less favourable business situation

In wholesaling the business climate deteriorated, with consumer goods wholesaling more strongly affected than industrial B2B. On the whole, the wholesalers assessed their current business situation less favourably than in the previous month. After having been able to reduce their excess inventories somewhat in March, inventories increased again clearly in April. In particular wholesalers of capital goods used the strong demand in March to reduce inventories, building them up again in April. With regard to the business outlook, the firms have become a little more sceptical and have revised their order plans downwards.