April 2019: Current situation and perspectives under pressure
The European Foundry Industry Sentiment Indicator (FISI) illustrates that the foundries are increasingly confronted by a downward trend. This development is similar to the declining tendency of the whole industry sector in the Euro Area. After a long-term period of strong growth rates and optimism, the European foundries assess the current business situation to be weaker. But overall, it remains on a comfortable level.
The expectations for the next six months are continuously under pressure due to the suffering of the impact of global uncertainties. Besides the cooling economy and the maintaining trade policy uncertainties, the general conditions have only changed slightly. Although the Brexit has been postponed to October 2019, the final decision and the upcoming developments are completely unclear. As a result, the European foundries look into the future with less confidence.
The FISI – European Foundry Industry Sentiment Indicator – is an early indicator of the European foundry industry performance. It is published by the European Foundry Association (CAEF) 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 FISI is the earliest available indicator, providing information about the mood in the foundry industry.
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.
Sophie Steffen
Secretary Commission for Economics & Statistics
phone: +49 211 68 71 — 301
sophie.steffen@caef.eu