Despite the demand for new machinery cooling down, the volume of orders in front of European manufacturers still corresponds to a production lead time of 5.9 months, just slightly below the all-time highest ever recorded, according to CEMA’s latest market trends report.

Each month, CEMA (the association representing the European agricultural machinery industry) carries out a survey on the outlook in the European agricultural machinery industry.

The August report shows that while the order intake has cooled down noticeably in recent months (from a very high level), price increases and shortages of components have been creating bottlenecks in the manufacturing sector for some time now, although some easing is apparent.

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Some 34% of the companies surveyed are planning a temporary production stoppage due to shortages of components in the coming four weeks.

However, this is down from nearly half of the companies it surveyed at the start of the summer who were planning to temporarily halt production.

August report

The August report shows that the general Business Climate Index for the Agricultural Machinery Industry in Europe has stabilised at a positive level after its sharp declines in the course of the early stages of the Russian war against Ukraine. In August, the index continues at 18 points (on a scale of -100 to +100).

It shows that a total of 82% of participants are happy with current business, albeit down from 89% in the spring.

Meanwhile, 38% of participants expect their company turnover to grow in the next six months, down from 42% last month. All in all, CEMA said the overall market outlook for the coming months remains robust for the time being.