The last cycle was held at the end of February/beginning of March 2017. The aim of this survey is to collect opinions of entrepreneurs about current situation in the sector and their forecasts for the future developments.  The end result is an index – an indicator of their spirits, presenting the results of the study as a figure.  In previous editions, the survey covered only the companies being members of the Polish Chamber of Commerce of Agricultural Machines and Facilities. This year, for the first time questionnaire was also completed by companies from outside of the Chamber.
The results of the last cycle clearly show that companies are expecting for a significant upturn in the sector.
After a difficult 2016 it is hard to assume that the companies will expect another one as difficult. Therefore, this year the majority of companies expect the upturn in the market. It is clearly visible in the results that the indications expecting a significant downturn in the market represent only ca. 2%, while 6 months ago they reached 55%. Over 52% of companies in the sector of machines and appliances expect the upturn (slightly above 40% amongst the PIGMIUR companies).
Similar expectations are defined for own sales. Over 50% of companies in the sector expect the results to be better than a year ago. Last year this result oscillated between 4% in February to slightly above 7% in August. About 40% of the companies express a moderate optimism, expecting similar sales as in 2016.
And mainly these two factors contributed to a significant increase in the value of the index reflecting spirits in the sector. After difficult times, the sector hopes for a significant improvement. The last year is definitively evaluated negatively. The companies look with hope to the future and count on the upturn in the market, and therefore, on improvement in a condition of their companies.
Changes in the spirit is reflected by the index calculated using results for answers to individual questions. Its value returned to the region of positive values, and this proves that the positive spirit prevails. Never in the past was its value at such high level. This is yet another prove how difficult the previous year was for the sector of machines and appliances, and how high are the entrepreneurs’ hopes for improvement this year.

Index of spirits in the sector of machines and appliances sector