The general business climate index of the agricultural machinery industry in Europe continues to move in the recession zone. Overall, the future expectations have deteriorated again slightly, whereas the current business evaluations have improved to some extent. An improvement in the current business was reported in particular for the segments of Transportation, Arable and Livestock Equipment. With regard to expectations for the coming six months, it is noticeable that the share of survey participants with neutral or undecided ratings has grown overall.
Dealer stock levels with new and used machines continue above the average of the past three years across all segments in most regions of Europe. The highest above-average stocks with new and used machines are reported for the UK and Germany.
Incoming orders from the EU market meanwhile seem to be developing less negatively than from outside the EU. Although the participants expect a negative development over the coming six months for the largest part of Europe, they are no longer quite as pessimistic and have revised their expectations upwards for two thirds of Europe's regions. As expected, a significant recovery seems to be taking place in Scandinavia. By contrast, the trend in the French market is no longer quite as positive as in the past.