Manufacturing: slowing of demand declines

The business climate in manufacturing (including food and beverages) re-mained just as negative in May. The firms once again judged their current busi-ness situation clearly more unfavourably than in April although they were af-fected by declines in demand more seldom than before. Their production has again been cut back according to the company responses, but not as strongly as previously. Firms however were forced to lower their prices further. In all in-dustries the profit situation worsened in comparison to autumn 2008. For the next six months the companies do not expect a continuation of such an unfa-vourable business situation and also assess their export opportunities less negatively. This is expressed in their production plans, which contain fewer cut-backs in comparison to the previous month. Personnel plans also point to fewer cuts in staff levels.