Acimall report: orders of wood and furniture equipment decrease 14.4% in 2Q 2019

According to the periodical survey by the Studies office of Acimall, the Confindustria member association, in second quarter of 2019 the orders of wood and furniture machinery and equipment have decreased by 14.4% compared to the second quarter 2018. Foreign demand has decreased (down by 7.1%, versus minus 10.2% in the previous quarter), and domestic demand even worse (minus 36.3%, versus 14.5% down in January-March 2019).

The book of orders is at 2.8 months (it was 3.7 months at the end of March), while prices have been growing by 1.2% since the beginning of 2019. In the first and, again, in the second quarter, however, revenues are increasing, up by 3.3% (but in the January-March 2019 period the increase rate was 10.3%). 

The quality survey in the second quarter 2019 reveals that 12 percent of the interviewees expect a positive production trend (versus 7% in the previous quarter.), 47% predict a stationary situation (versus 60% three months earlier), and 41% believe the trend will go down (they were 33% in the previous quarter). 

The forecast survey confirms the recent climate of poor confidence due to the negative trend of German economy. 18% of the interviewees still believe that foreign orders will bring good news (optimists were “just” 13% last quarter), while 53% expect a stationary trend (60% in January-March 2019) and 29% see decreasing orders ahead (versus 27% three months ago). The balance is negative by 11 points.