Manufacturing industries are whittling down unfilled orders

A slowdown in new orders and a high level of activity are eating into manufacturers' reserves of unfilled orders. Orders on hand are now six per cent under the level of the previous quarter and 18 per cent under the level for the same quarter last year, measured in original series. Overall order backlogs are still relatively high.

The decline in unfilled orders has been the sharpest in the domestic market, sliding eight per cent from the previous quarter and 26 per cent from the same quarter the year before. A high intake of orders since 1997, particularly in fourth quarter 1997 and second quarter 1998, caused a surge in unfilled orders. The decline in the last two periods could be the forerunner of a more normalized situation.

Basic chemicals and basic metals are the only industries that can show an increase in orders on hand. Basic chemicals increased by about 22 per cent compared with first quarter 1998. The industry has seen a gradual build-up of unfilled orders since fourth quarter 1995, particularly for exports. The basic metals industry has increased its order backlog by nearly 57 per cent since second quarter 1997, thanks largely to unfilled export orders.

Transport equipment

As a result of the reduction of shipbuilding subsidies which took effect 1 January 1998, the transport equipment industry experienced an unusually high influx of orders in fourth quarter 1997. Not surprisingly, the intake of orders in subsequent quarters has been lower. In the first quarter of this year, overall new orders dropped by 29 per cent in comparison to the same quarter the year before, measured in original series. The decline was the sharpest for domestic orders, with 36 per cent. Total reserves of unfilled orders fell 30 per cent in the same period, while domestic orders on hand sank 45 per cent. Order backlogs are still relatively large, and can probably be expected to decline somewhat more in coming quarters.

New Statistics
Statistics on orders. Manufacturing, 1st quarter 1999.
The statistics are published quarterly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. For more information contact: Hilde.Hagen@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 47 45, or Jacob.A.Osnes@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 47 24.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 20, 1999