Manufacturing: Cautious Start in the New Year

The business climate in the manufacturing sector cooled again at the beginning of the year. With demand continuing to decline, survey participants once again assessed their current business situation less favourably. Satisfaction with order backlogs also declined. Although production has recently been cut back, excess inventories have risen, on balance. Nevertheless, production plans are just as expansionary as in the previous month. At 86.3%, capacity utilisation was almost 2 percentage points lower than a year ago. Scepticism increased with regard to business development in the coming six months. Only a few new impulses are expected from foreign business. In line with this, new hirings are again less frequently planned.