Manufacturing companies report that their present situation may be bad, but the outlook is improving, according to the latest gauge of sentiment in the sector by think tank Kopint-Tarki.
The short-term outlook for production, sales and orders all improved in April, although order stock was still low. Companies expect growing demand on export markets and increased use of capacity.
This optimism is fueled by external markets, as demand on the domestic market is still weak, says Kopint-Tarki.
Almost three-quarters of companies said production was down because of the lack of domestic demand. About half said weak demand on export markets had impacted production. On the whole, their sales prospects have improved slightly since January.
Companies said that, on average, they were currently using about 72pct of capacity, and expected the ratio to rise in the next 12 months.
Layoffs in the sector have slowed and could end in 5–6 months, according to a Kopint-Tarki survey.
Companies' assessment of the economy as a whole at present was little changed from the previous survey in January, but the outlook for the economy improved slightly. Projections of the macro-economic outlook have been improving steadily since April 2009.
