The general business climate index for the agricultural machinery industry in Europe has entirely left its first upward path since the sharp declines in the course of the Russian war against Ukraine, and is still barely at a positive level. In May, the index decreased from 16 to 11 points (on a scale of -100 to +100).
Order backlogs have finally peaked in recent months. The volume of orders has been significantly reduced and is now corresponding to a production period of 5.5 months, which is still very high in a historical comparison, but substantially lower than at any time in the past year.
While considerable easing can be observed on the supply side, uncertainties are increasing with regard to the market side, and confidence levels are declining accordingly. The industry representatives have further downgraded their future expectations. While there is still a moderate majority of company representatives with positive turnover expectations for some large markets such as France and Germany, confidence has virtually collapsed with regard to the markets of Italy, Spain and Poland.
