The general business climate index for the agricultural machinery industry in Europe has improved slightly but continues deep in negative territory. In September, the index increased from -57 point to -54 points (on a scale of -100 to +100).
The slight improvement in the business climate is solely due to less negative expectations for the coming six months, while current business continues to be evaluated almost at record low level. A similar picture can be seen for the order intake, for which future expectations have improved slightly in recent months, while current incoming orders from both Europe and outside Europe remained negative.
With a view to the European end customer markets, the survey participants continue to see low investment needs across all countries. Accordingly, despite slight improvements, there is still not one single European market with positive confidence levels.
In terms of total annual turnover, the industry representatives expect for their company an average decline of 10% in 2024 and forecast a flat trend for the coming year, implying that the bottom would have been reached by 2025 at the latest.
