Dutch Producer Confidence Improves In March

The Netherlands’ producer confidence improved in March though expectations eroded due to concerns over the war in Ukraine, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.

The producer sentiment index rose to 8.7 in March from 8.5 in February. This was above the average score of 0.9 seen over the past twenty years.

The war in Ukraine played a role for the first time in producer confidence in March, the CBS said.

Producers were less positive about the expected activity and order book, the agency said. Their assessments of stocks of finished goods were more positive.

There were more entrepreneurs who expected their production to increase in the coming three months than those who predicted a decline, the agency added.

Producers in the wood and building materials industry were more positive in March.

For the first time after 2020, producers were on balance negative about the economic climate in the coming three months.