Business Survey Spotlight: Inventories and Order Backlog in Manufacturing

The Ifo Business Survey of manufacturing also covers several questions related to storage and the order situation. This article takes a look at these variables and the relations between them. A negative correlation emerges between inventories of finished goods and the order situation at the highest aggregate level. This reveals a clear trend towards just-in-time production; with stocks of raw materials, primary materials and finished products declining steadily since the 1980s.