The general business climate index for the agricultural machinery industry in Europe has again deteriorated slightly following the sharp downturn of the previous months. In April, the index decreased from -55 to -57 points (on a scale of -100 to +100).
The survey confirms again that the direct customers of the manufacturers, the dealers, are not able to pass on their numerous orders from the past to the end customers. According to the survey, the dealer stocks are in most European markets significantly higher than in the year 2019, which went down in history due to high dealer stock levels.
The renewed deterioration in the business climate is for the second month in a row solely due to the fact that current business evaluations have followed the already lower expectations downwards. According to the survey participants, current business is worse than it has been for more than 7 years. Only 5% of industry representatives consider the current business situation to be favorable.
On the other hand, future expectations have stabilized at a low level. Still, two thirds of survey participants expect their turnover to decline in the coming six months. However, a further and meanwhile significant improvement can be seen in expectations for the coming order intake (an indicator that is not included in the calculation of the overall barometer index).
