The general business climate index for the agricultural machinery industry in Europe has continued to fall sharply after reaching negative territory in July for the first time since the crash in the wake of COVID-19. In September, the index fell from -22 point to -31 points (on a scale of -100 to +100).
Meanwhile, 58% of the survey participants expect their turnover to decline in the next six months and with view to the coming order intake (an indicator which is not considered in the calculation of the overall barometer index) even 71% expect a further decline. The deterioration also seems to have reached the component manufacturers, who were more optimistic in the previous months but have now corrected their expectations drastically into the negative.
According to the survey participants, the need for investment seems to be exhausted in all European end-customer markets. Accordingly, there is not one single European market for which a majority of survey participants would have positive turnover expectations. Especially the two major markets Germany and Italy have slipped further down the ranking of market confidence levels.
Nevertheless, for 2023 as a whole, the survey participants still expect a slight increase in turnover for their company on average, due to the high turnover at the beginning of the year as a result of the reduction in manufacturers' order backlogs.
