Manufacturing: Business Climate Is Excellent

The business climate in manufacturing continued to develop positively in May, reaching its highest level since mid-2011. Both the current business situation and business expectations improved markedly. A key driver was vehicle construction, where both current business situation and expectations rose considerably. Significant growth opportunities also emerged in foreign markets. After last month's very good outcome, the demand situation improved once again. This was reflected in excellent assessments of the order backlog, with manufacturers' satisfaction with their order buffers reaching its highest level in six years. In line with these developments, production has been steadily ramped up in recent months. Even if inventory overhangs have risen again recently, manufacturers still upwardly revised their production plans more frequently.