In September, the European Foundry Sentiment Indicator (FISI) roughly maintained its previous month’s level. The marginal decrease of 0.1 points brings the index to a value of 109.6. A slightly improved assessment of the current business situation is offset by more
pessimistic expectations for the upcoming six months.
Broken down by ferrous and non-ferrous metals significant differences emerge in September. While the situation among iron and steel foundries has stabilised recently, non-ferrous metal foundries in particular, are currently under considerable pressure. On the one hand, the semiconductor procurement problems of the vehicle manufacturers are having an increasing impact on call-offs and orders for casting products. On the other hand, energy prices, especially electricity and gas prices, have skyrocketed in most parts of Europe in recent weeks. The fact that the People's Republic of China is now lowering magnesium production and thus almost suspending the world supply of magnesium and aluminium also directly endangers the non-ferrous foundries as well as the most important customer sectors of our industry. Talks at the highest political level are urgently needed at this point. In view of these very multifaceted challenges, it can be assumed that in the coming weeks and months the further recovery path will be negatively affected.
At the same time, the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) remains on a high level in September. The slight decrease of 0.02 points brings the index to its to 1.72 points. Only the production trend of the past weeks cooled slightly recently.
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.
