Business confidence down in Russian manufacturing, extractive sectors in June - Rosstat
MOSCOW. June 25 (Interfax) - The business confidence index the Russian manufacturing sector fell in June after rising in May, while confidence in the extractive sector fell in June for the first time in five months, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said.
Rosstat said the business confidence index the Russian extractive sector was zero in June, down from 1% in May. The index was zero in April, also.
The index in manufacturing was minus (-) 3% in June, -2% in May, -3% in April and -2% in March.
In the utilities sector (electricity, gas and water) the index was -8% in June, -13% in May, -12% in April and -9% in March.
Rosstat said 14% of respondents surveyed thought the economic situation at their companies in June was good and 68% satisfactory in the extractive sector, and 9% and 74%, respectively, in manufacturing.
Around 23% and 31% of respondents from the respective sectors said they expected the economic situation to improve in the next six months, 17 percentage points and 25 points more than thought the situation would deteriorate.
Respondents reported average capacity utilization at 62% in April, and 91% of respondents thought capacity would be sufficient to meet demand over the coming six months, while 11% of them said there was surplus capacity.
Among factors constraining production growth, respondents mentioned a high level of taxation and, in manufacturing, insufficient demand for production on the domestic market.
The business confidence index is a qualitative indicator based on management reports concerning forecast output, inventories and demand in three basic industries - subsurface resource extraction, processing and electricity, gas and water production and distribution - that anticipates shifts in economic variables. Small business is excluded from the calculation. The indicator is the arithmetical "balance" of the responses to the survey questions concerning expected output and actual demand less current inventories of finished product. The balance of expected output indicates the variation among producers noting an increase or decrease in output. The balance of actual demand less current inventories indicates the variation among producers noting a level above or below normal.