The CEMA Business Barometer for June was recently released.

It reports that the general business climate index for the agricultural machinery industry in Europe has continued to decrease slightly after its sharpest drop since the crash in the wake of COVID-19, but is, in total, still holding at a positive level.

In June, the index decreased from 16 to 13 points (on a scale of -100 to +100). It says sentiment among livestock equipment manufacturers has turned sharply into negative, while business climate remains much better for components and, to a lesser extent, for arable equipment.

Overall, the current business situation has deteriorated noticeably once again compared to the previous month. However, expectations for the coming six months have risen slightly for the first time since the beginning of the year.

Also, with regard to the full year of 2022, the European industry representatives still forecast in average a +5% increase in turnover for their company (unchanged compared to March). Price increases and shortages on the supplier side continue to challenge the industry heavily, but appear to moderate slightly. Meanwhile “only” 40% of the companies are planning a temporary production stop due to bottlenecks in the coming four weeks.

At the same time, the survey participants are no longer entirely optimistic with regard to future turnover from some markets, especially Austria and Poland (apart from Eastern Europe, which continues anyway deeply at the bottom of the confidence ranking), but remain bullish with view to major markets such as Germany and France.