The July update to the CEMA Business Climate Index reached a reading of –7, its first time in the negative range since the beginning of the pandemic. This was its fifth month in a row of declines. The report said that order intake by manufacturers was dropping "significantly" in the European market.

"The direct customers of the manufacturers, the dealers, are apparently not able to pass on their numerous orders to the end customers and have thus slid directly from undersupply to record-high oversupply. According to the survey, the dealer stocks are now in many European markets already higher than in the year 2019, which went down in history due to high dealer stock levels," the report said.

Some 34% of survey respondents expect their overall net revenue in the next 6 months will decrease and another 37% expect it will remain unchanged.

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