OREANDA-NEWS. August 02, 2011. In July this year the confidence index for manufacturers rose as evidenced by the results of the July survey which gathered economic insights from Belarusian industrial enterprises. The survey was conducted by the Economic Research Institute of the Economy Ministry of Belarus.

The index of industrial confidence describing business conditions in the industry remains in the negative territory, but in July it increased by two notches as compared with the data in June. This is due to a slight improvement in the assessments of the current demand and to diminishing backlogs of inventories at enterprises.

According to the July survey, the tendency towards a growth in demand for industrial products remained in place on the domestic and foreign markets. The share of responses regarding the growth in general demand was 43%, which is 4 points higher than in June. Capacity utilization in July remained at the level of previous months - 68%. Capacity utilization at about a third of industrial enterprises is at 80% or more. Some 74% of managers assessed production capacity of their enterprises in connection with the expected demand as “adequate”, 14% gave the answer “more than sufficient” and only 11% answered “not enough”. These estimates have not changed compared to June either.

As in previous months, the majority of respondents (73%) reported that the number of employees at their companies remained the same. Yet, 9% of managers cut the number of employees, while 16%, in contrast, recruited more staff. According to forecasts, in August the situation will not change significantly. Some 16% of managers are planning to recruit more staff, layoffs are possible at 7% of the enterprises, 76% believe that staff numbers at their companies will not change.

Much of the backlog of inventory has been sold on the back of buoyant demand. In July, 42% of those polled reported the reduction in the backlog of inventory, while 24% of managers pointed to its increase. Thus, the 2010 trends remained in place throughout H1 2011.

The market environment survey in July revealed an increase in industrial output and a strong growth in demand for manufactured goods; however, capacity utilization and the average order intake remained unchanged compared with June 2011.