The general business climate index for the agricultural machinery industry in Europe has dropped to its lowest level since the crash in the wake of COVID-19, but is still at a balanced level even with this further decline. In June, the index decreased from 11 to 1 point (on a scale of -100 to +100).
After some easing on the supply side, uncertainties are increasing with regard to the market side, and confidence levels are declining accordingly. Along with the deterioration in evaluations for the current business, industry representatives have further downgraded their future expectations.
The differences within segments and regions thereby have increased: While the climate for livestock and harvesting equipment is still at a positive level, the climate for tractors and arable equipment, among others, has clearly slipped into negative territory. Also, there is still a moderate majority of company representatives with positive turnover expectations for some large markets such as France and Germany, whereas confidence has basically disappeared for the markets of Italy and Poland.
For 2023 as a whole, the survey participants still expect a slight increase in turnover for their company on average, among others, due to high turnover at the beginning of the year as a result of the reduction in manufacturers' order backlogs.
