The general business climate index for the agricultural machinery industry in Europe has broadly continued its sideways movement at a positive level after the sharp declines in the course of the Russian war against Ukraine. In September, the index dropped back slightly to the level of June, ending up again at 13 points (on a scale of -100 to +100).
The European industry representatives have maintained their turnover outlook for the full year 2022 almost unchanged at a plus of around 5% and forecast further slight turnover growth on average for 2023, albeit only in the low single-digit range.
Price increases and bottlenecks on the supplier side continue to challenge the industry, but some slight easing is observable. Currently, 31% of the companies are planning a temporary production stop due to shortages in the coming four weeks.
The regional breakdown on the market side shows decreasing confidence levels for some, mainly larger, European markets. According to the survey participants, moreover, the need for investment in almost all end customer markets, except in Romania and Eastern Europe, seems to have become somewhat exhausted.
