Manufacturing: Firms Plan to Ramp Up Production

In manufacturing the business climate indicator rose for the third time in succession. Manufacturers’ assessments of their current business situation continued to improve. Confidence in short-term developments also grew. Stronger impulses from exports are also expected thanks to the falling euro exchange rate. For this reason firms also plan to ramp up production in the months ahead. The capacity utilisation rate rose by 0.4 percentage points to 84.6% versus October and was thus higher than the value for the same period last year.