Tendency survey: Manufacturing industry still strong

The Economic Tendency Indicator fell for a second month from 107.9 in February to 106.8 in March. This was due to less optimistic firms, as consumer confidence improved slightly. Despite the decrease, the Economic Tendency Indicator still points to stronger economic growth than normal.

Firms in the manufacturing industry reported healthy growth in domestic orders in recent months, and their production plans point to a strong performance over the next three months. Export
orders have increased overall, but less and less quickly in recent months, which can be explained mainly by weakness in the electronics and pharmaceutical industries.

Construction firms reported further very strong growth, and expectations for orders and activity are much higher than normal. At the same time, there is a hint of a slight downtrend in the industry’s optimistic recruitment plans since the autumn. The same applies to expectations for tender prices.

The confidence indicator for the retail trade declined for a third successive month but is still above the historical average and so points to a stronger situation than normal. Optimism in the service industry has also declined over the past three months and is now only marginally above the
historical norm.

Read the full publication and access the data on www.konj.se/english

For further information:

Maria Billstam, Head of Economic Tendency Surveys +46 8 453 59 04
Sarah Hegardt Grant, Head of Communications +46 8 453 59 11

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