Business survey Netherlands; to sector/branches

This table provides up-to-date information, including uncertainty margins, about the opinions held by Dutch entrepreneurs on their achievements, expectations and judgments regarding their business. This panel survey is aimed at gaining insight into the current situation, future development and judgments of Dutch enterprises. As a result it is possible to detect turning points in optimism or pessimism at an early stage, providing an early indication of possible trend changes in the economic activities of Dutch enterprises. Data are broken down by main business activity (SITC 2008). The questions submitted to the entrepreneurs at the beginning of a quarter concern output, turnover, prices, order books, stocks, investments, competitive position, economic climate, staff size and the obstacles they have encountered. In answering the questions relating to developments in the past three months and expectations for the next three months, the entrepreneurs are asked for a comparison with the preceding period of three months.

Data available from: January 2012

Status of the figures: All figures are definitive.

Changes as of February 6th 2025: Figures of January 2024 have been added.

During an evaluation of the weights being used for the business survey, it became apparent that in recent years the weights for construction in the figures for the total of all enterprises (no finance or energy) were too large to be economically justified. For this reason the weights for constructions have been decreased and this has been applied to the entire time series. This caused a slight shift in most figures for the total of all enterprises (no finance or energy).

Figures for the subject ‘Capacity utilisation’ are now available for all branches within wholesale and retail trade and services. The method for calculating the capacity utilisation slightly differs from the calculation of the capacity utilisation for the branches mining and quarrying and manufacturing. More information about the difference can be found in the description of this topic.

The following 2nd digit branches have been added:

• 01 Agriculture
• 02 Forestry and logging
• 03 Fishing and aquaculture
• 06 Extraction of crude petroleum and gas
• 08 Mining and quarrying (no oil and gas)
• 09 Mining support activities

The topic ‘Profitability next three months’ has been added.

Changes as of March 7th 2024: Due to a technical issue most figures of February 2024 were divided by 100. This now has been corrected.

When will new figures be published? Figures of February 2025 are expected to be published the 27th of February 2025.