Manufacturing: Business Climate Continues to Improve

The business climate in manufacturing continued to improve, with survey participants expressing greater confidence in their six-month business outlook. Against a background of slightly less dynamic demand, their assessments of the current business situation, by contrast, were slightly less favourable. Although the indicator edged downwards from last month's record high, manufacturers remained very satisfied with their order backlog. They trimmed back their production plans as a result, despite very low inventories in many cases. Manufacturers' export expectations were marginally more confident than in October and they plan to recruit slightly higher numbers of new staff.