The Riksbank's company interviews: Production and profitability recovering

Date 09/02/2011

According to the companies interviewed in the Riksbank’s latest survey, the economic situation has continued to improve. The companies also say that they expect economic activity to continue to develop positively over the next six months, although expectations have weakened somewhat. At the same time, the risks associated with the economic situation have declined slightly since September, when the previous survey was conducted.

 

A majority of the large manufacturing companies say that production volumes have continued to increase, although there is still some way to go to reach the levels that prevailed in the years prior to the crisis. Profitability has also improved and many companies now state that their profitability is good.

 

A larger proportion of the companies intend to increase their prices this year compared to the survey in September. Most of the companies are planning small increases and often mention levels of two to three per cent in 2011. One of the main reasons given for increasing prices is the fact that demand is increasing in the economy.

 

The companies say that there is still a good supply of labour. The overall picture painted by the companies in the survey is that they need to recruit more personnel. The need to recruit is greatest in the construction sector.

 

Since 2007, the Riksbank conducts interviews with companies in the construction, retail, manufacturing and service sectors ahead of every Monetary Policy Report. This time, the survey was conducted with a slightly different sample of companies than previously. Only the very largest 25 companies were interviewed this time, as opposed to 60 companies previously. The interviews were conducted in January 2011.