The business climate in the European foundry industry drops slightly in September. Foundries were once again less satisfied with their ongoing business, and their expectations for the next six months remained sceptical. This is in line with the trend of the European industry: The European Commission's Business Climate Indicator shows that the manufacturing sector in the Euro area is under severe pressure. Several downgrades of forecasts – both for new registrations and production of passenger cars, as well as for the sales of machines – are already a sign of lower investment activity and of further slowdown beyond the turn of the year 2019/2020. Consequently, the current demand development for cast components and production plans do not offer any improvement in the coming months.
The FISI – European Foundry Industry Sentiment Indicator – is the earliest available composite indicator providing information on the European foundry industry performance. It is published by CAEF the European Foundry Association every month and is based on survey responses of the European foundry industry. The CAEF members are asked to give their assessment of the current business situation in the foundry sector and their expectations for the next six months.
The BCI – Business Climate Indicator – is an indicator published by the European Commission. The BCI evaluates development conditions of the manufacturing sector in the euro area every month and uses five balances of opinion from industry survey: production trends, order books, export order books, stocks and production expectations.
Please find the chart enclosed or combined with additional information at www.caef.eu.