Manufacturing: Business Outlook Clouds Over

The business climate in manufacturing continued to cool. The decline was mainly due to more cautious business expectations. Similarly, fewer manufacturers expected favourable developments in foreign markets. In line with this, production plans were less expansionary. Manufacturers still planned to hire new staff, but on a smaller scale than last month. Order backlogs also declined in the face of weakening demand. This development was also reflected in the assessment of order books. The current business situation indicator was not quite as good as in November and clearly lower than the figure seen during the same period last year.