Manufacturing: a Strong Start to the Year

Satisfaction with the current business situation in manufacturing reached a new high at the beginning of the year. Investment goods producers in particular assessed their current business situation very favourably. Although demand slowed down somewhat, this was not reflected in the order backlog. This backlog is considerably higher than last year, as shown by manufacturers' favourable assessment. At the same time, their capacity utilisation rose to way above its long-term average. Although inventories rose on balance, they remained at a very low level. In line with this development, production plans remained expansive. Manufacturers expressed a great deal of confidence in both their export expectations and the general business outlook, although to a lesser extent than recently. Overall, the climate indicator nevertheless rose somewhat due to favourable assessments of the current business situation.