The Dutch industry achieved less turnover in the past quarter than in the same period last year, after turnover was higher every quarter than the year before for two years. This is evident from calculations published on Monday by Statistics Netherlands (CBS). In the second quarter of 2023, industry turnover was 7.5 percent lower than in the same period last year.
“The decrease in turnover is partly due to lower selling prices,” says CBS chief economist Peter Hein van Mulligen. These lower selling prices are due to falling energy prices. “But that is not the only thing, production has also been lower than a year ago for a while. This is probably due to decreased demand, which may also be the result of the still high level of energy prices.” Energy prices have fallen since the beginning of 2023, but are still higher than before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
According to Van Mulligen, the decrease in production in particular suggests that the industry is not doing as well. “Ultimately, companies need to make a profit to survive, or at least not a continuous loss. Less sales can lead to losses in the long run. After all, fixed costs will continue to run.”
Bankruptcies
The number of bankruptcies has “increased considerably in a year’s time,” Statistics Netherlands writes. In the second quarter of 2023, 62 companies in the industry went bankrupt compared to 39 in the same quarter of 2022. Last quarter there were 80 bankruptcies.
Turnover in refineries and in the chemical, printing and paper industries contracted the most. The turnover of the refineries and chemical companies fell by 28.5 percent compared to the second quarter of last year, that of the paper industry and the printing industry by 11.9 percent. Although sales fell in most branches, some actually saw an increase. This was the case for the electrical engineering and machinery industry (13.7 percent revenue growth) and the transport equipment industry (11 percent revenue growth).
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