Manufacturing: Weaker Start to New Year

The business climate in manufacturing cooled down in January. Companies assessed their current business situation as less favourable. Their business expectations were only characterised by cautious optimism. Sales opportunities in foreign markets were also assessed more cautiously than previously. The order backlog remained unchanged at 2.9 months compared to October. Capacity utilisation rates rose by 0.6 percentage points versus the previous quarter (85.1%).