The Economic Barometer offers a quarterly up-to-date overview of economic prospects within various industries. This barometer includes several indicators, including turnover growth, order book, promising areas and potential threats. The survey results for the second quarter show a generally more pessimistic picture. The results show that the increase in prices and sales costs has clearly slowed down.
Within the Industrial Electronics sector it became clear in the first quarter that a larger number of companies were dealing with a deteriorated order position. The percentage of companies reporting a deteriorated order position compared to the same quarter last year increased from 40% to 55%. The Q2 findings confirm that this trend is continuing. The same trend is observable in the realized turnover compared to last year, and also in the expectations. The energy transition remains the most important opportunity identified. Several companies emphasize the growth opportunities in the defense sector. The biggest problem mentioned until Q1 was a lack of supply (80%). This has now shifted to the problem of excess inventory at customers as a result of 'over-purchasing'.
Within the members of the Industrial Automation Sector we see a similar trend in order positions in Q2, as observed within the Industrial Electronics sector. 34% reported a deteriorated order position compared to the same quarter last year. This percentage was only 16% in Q1. For 62% of companies, sales were better than last year. However, the percentage of companies with lower turnover increased from 13% in Q1 to 21% in Q2. There is a significant shift in the development of prices and rates compared to the last two quarters. The percentage of companies indicating that rates/output prices have increased fell from 87% in Q1 to 48%. The percentage indicating that rates have remained the same increased from 13% in Q1 to 52% in Q2. The increased rates in the recent period are still seen as the most important problem.
Inside Laboratory Technology 46% expects an improved order position compared to last year; 31% expects stability and 23% foresees a decline. In terms of revenue, Q2 shows a strong increase in the percentage of companies that experienced a decline in total revenue (Q1: 15%; Q2: 46%). Expectations have become bleaker overall. The development of rates and selling prices has - just as in the aforementioned sectors - changed compared to the previous measurement. While rates and prices have often increased over the past two quarters, prices have in most cases remained the same this quarter (62%). The role of service and maintenance is seen as the most important opportunity, followed by expected growth in e-commerce. The main problem here remains inflation and the increase in general costs
Due to a limited response, the results of the Building Automation sector cannot be reported.
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