Wholesaling (Germany):
Restrictive order plans

In wholesaling the business climate continues to cool. The survey participants are increasingly dissatisfied with their business situation. In comparison with the previous year, sales are seen as worse and inventories are regarded by more firms as too large. They thus plan to reduce order volumes for new products. On the whole, wholesalers are not planning to increase their prices. This signals the end of the price-hike trend that was visible in the summer. The worsening of the business climate has expressed itself both in consumer goods wholesaling and in industrial B2B. In both fields the survey participants are more dissatisfied with their current business situation and regard the six-month outlook more sceptically.