Source: CAEF

After the recently positive trend, the decline at the current edge is affecting all material groups. The assessment of the current business situation is under greater pressure than the expectations for the next six months. The most important customer industries of foundries partly show different market signals. While order backlogs in general engineering are still at a very high level, new orders have been declining noticeably for months. Meanwhile, in the automotive industry production is picking up from historically low volumes due to the easing of international supply chains.

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) again holds its level in March. The decrease of 0.01 points brings the index to 0.70 points. Overall, the selling price expectations for the month ahead are decreasing in comparison to the previous month starting from a high level.

The FISI – European Foundry Industry Sentiment Indicator – is the earliest available composite indicator providing information on the European foundry industry performance. It is published by CAEF the European Foundry Association every month and is based on survey responses of the European foundry industry. The CAEF members are asked to give their assessment of the current business situation in the foundry sector and their expectations for the next six months.

The BCI – Business Climate Indicator – is an indicator published by the European Commission. The BCI evaluates development conditions of the manufacturing sector in the euro area every month and uses five balances of opinion from industry survey: production trends, order books, export order books, stocks, and production expectations.

Source: CAEF