Economic information: Industry expects to invest more in 2017

Source: VNO-NCW   Entrepreneurs in the industry expect to invest 13 percent more in buildings and machines, for example, next year than they did this year. The chemical industry predicts the largest increase for next year compared to 2016. The prospects in the paper industry are less positive, reports the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Chemicals manufacturers expect to spend 65 percent more on direct-use assets next year. This increase follows an expected decline in investments of 25 percent in 2016. The picture is the other way around in the paper industry: after an expected increase of 85 percent in 2016, a decline of 29 percent is expected for 2017. The industry expects to have invested 4 percent more money in fixed assets at the end of this year than in 2015, when companies together invested more than 8 billion euros. Turnover of the temporary employment sector is increasing again In the third quarter, employment agencies, employment agencies and personnel managers achieved 1 percent more turnover than in the previous quarter. The increase is smaller than in the second quarter. The number of temporary employment hours also increased again in the third quarter. The revenues of the temporary employment sector are strongly related to the number of temporary employment hours. The total number of temporary employment hours increased by 2 percent in the past quarter. The number of temporary employment hours in long-term contracts such as secondment and payrolling increased by 2.6 percent in the third quarter. A quarter earlier the increase was 3 percent. The number of hours in short-term contracts increased by 1.9 percent. This increase is also less significant than in the second quarter. Turnover in the catering industry is rising sharply Hotels, restaurants, snack bars and cafes achieved 2.6 percent more turnover in the third quarter than in the previous quarter. Revenues increased especially in restaurants, cafes and snack bars. The number of drinks and overnight stays also increased. Compared to a year earlier, the catering industry achieved a record growth of 8.8 percent in this area. The catering industry last achieved such a turnover increase in the first quarter of 2007. Restaurants and cafés saw the strongest turnover increase, by 3.5 and 3.4 percent respectively on a quarterly basis. Growth in both sectors was also higher than in the first half of this year. Cafés, cafes and coffee shops have never before achieved such a strong increase in turnover. In contrast to the other catering sectors, sales of cafés are still lower than before the crisis. Snack bars, lunchrooms, fast food restaurants, meal delivery companies and ice cream parlors together generated 2.7 percent more turnover in the third quarter. Fast food chains and meal delivery companies in particular recorded more turnover than the previous quarter. For hotels, turnover growth was 0.2 percent less strong than for the other sectors. Growth here also weakened compared to previous quarters. Business services generate more turnover Business services generated 5 percent more turnover in the third quarter than in the same period a year ago. The sector has been continuously increasing turnover for three years, but growth has decreased in the last four quarters. The turnover growth was broad-based. Only security industry revenues fell for the second quarter in a row. Architects and gardeners did good business, with a turnover increase of more than 10 percent. The temporary employment sector also achieved more than 6 percent more turnover. Entrepreneurs' confidence in business services shows a similar trend to turnover and has now been positive for more than three consecutive years. Just like the increase in turnover, confidence has declined slightly over the past three quarters. However, it is considerably larger than the average over the past five years. The forecasts for next year are also positive. Travel industry turnover record high The travel industry achieved higher turnover in the third quarter of 2016 for the tenth quarter in a row. Travel organizers and intermediaries achieved 7.8 percent more turnover than a year earlier. According to Statistics Netherlands, the sector achieved a new turnover record. Travel intermediaries achieved significantly more turnover, while travel organizations and tour operators showed a slight decline in turnover. In addition to turnover, the added value of the travel industry has also increased: from more than 1.6 billion euros in 2010 to more than 4 billion in 2015. In the same period, the importance of the travel industry in the Dutch economy also doubled, from approximately 0.3 percent. of gross domestic product to almost 0.7 percent. Retail sales are higher Dutch retail turnover was 1.2 percent more in the third quarter than in the same period a year earlier. Revenues increased for the eighth quarter in a row. Online shopping grew faster than store sales, with a turnover increase of more than 14 percent. During the period, online turnover from pure online stores grew the most, at 17.8 percent. According to the statistics agency, online sales increased by 9.4 percent at stores where internet sales are a side activity, the so-called multi-channelers. Stores in the food sector generated 2.4 percent more turnover. In the non-food sector, turnover was 0.6 percent lower. This is the second quarter in a row that non-food stores have recorded lower turnover. Stores that compete fiercely with online stores are having a particularly hard time. For example, the turnover of shoe stores has been declining since the third quarter of 2014. In the third quarter of this year, turnover was also 15.6 percent lower than the same period a year earlier. The turnover decline of consumer electronics stores was 6.2 percent. Due to these developments, the number of physical stores in these sectors has fallen drastically, Statistics Netherlands notes.