The general business climate index for the agricultural machinery industry in Europe has continued to fall sharply after reaching negative territory in the previous month for the first time since the crash in the wake of COVID-19. In August, the index fell from -7 point to -22 points (on a scale of -100 to +100), which is one of the sharpest declines in the history of the survey.
After order backlogs had peaked at the beginning of the year, the volume of orders has seen a repeated significant reduction and is now corresponding to a production period of 4.4 months, which is still high in a long-term comparison, but substantially lower than at any time in the past two years. For every second manufacturer, the turnover from the order backlog reduction still ensures a stagnating or even increasing turnover for the for the current year.
However, with view to the coming order intake, around 60% of the companies expect a further decline, as in the previous months. Confidence levels for the European market have deteriorated in particular. Meanwhile, there is no longer any single European market for which a majority of survey participants would have positive turnover expectations. So, while the manufacturers' supply side continues to ease, the uncertainties on the market side have now definitely come to the fore.
