As in the previous months, the chemical industry witnessed the strongest decline among the larger industries.

After adjustments for seasonal effects and the working-day pattern, a 3.3-per cent decrease is seen in manufacturing output from December 2022 to January this year.

The average daily output of the Dutch manufacturing industry in January this year was 2.9 per cent lower than in the same month in 2022, according to Statistics Netherlands. This is the first decline in almost two years. Contraction was seen in most industries, with nearly three out of five manufacturing industries seeing their output decrease year on year.

Confidence among Dutch manufacturers hardly changed in February this year. Producer confidence increased from 3.6 in January to 3.7 in February. This is due to the fact that manufacturers were somewhat less negative about their stocks of finished products.

Germany is an important market for the Dutch manufacturing industry. In February, German entrepreneurs again showed improved confidence, according to the Business Climate Index of the IFO Institute.

Germans were less negative about their future situation, but also slightly less positive about the current situation. The average daily output generated by the German manufacturing industry was down by 0.9 per cent year on year in January, according to Destatis.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)