Manufacturing: Assessments of the Current Business Situation Continue to Lose Impetus

The business climate in manufacturing cooled down again somewhat. Manufacturers scaled back their positive assessments of the current business situation for the second month in succession. Assessments of the business outlook, by contrast, were more positive than recently, although firms saw less potential in foreign markets. Production will be less expansive due to lower demand. Capacity utilisation rose by 0.2 percentage points to 84.4%, taking it above the value for the same period of the previous year.