MAJOR FALLS IN ORDER BOOKS AND SALES – CBA TRENDS SURVEY
15 July 2019
15 July 2019
Both order books and current sales have fallen by 60% in the three months since the last Supply Chain Trends Survey in April 2019. Sales margins have declined by 40%. The number of companies expecting to create more jobs in the next three months has fallen to its lowest level since these Surveys began six years ago.
CBA’s Chief Executive, Peter Newport said, “Our last survey three months ago showed large scale evidence of stock building as companies ensured they could maintain supplies to customers after the anticipated Brexit date of 31 March 2019.”
“A combination of cash flow constraints and the limited availability of storage capacity has now brought this stock building process to an end. The three-month outlook for order books, sales, and margins is uniformly negative as Brexit uncertainty continues,” he said.
The CBA’s latest on-line Trends Survey was conducted from 4-12 July 2019 and is based on responses from 51 member companies.
ABOUT THE SURVEY
CBA’s Supply Chain Trends Survey asks companies to provide information on order books, sales, sales margins, and employment, on a ‘better–worse–same’ basis. To measure short-term trends, the analysis ignores responses answering ‘same’ and focuses on the positive or negative balance provided by the difference between the ‘better-worse’ responses.
NOTES TO EDITORS
(1) The Chemical Business Association (CBA) represents the independent chemical supply chain – distributors, traders, warehouse operators, along with logistics and transport companies. CBA’s members, the majority of which are SMEs, are the main industry interface with thousands of UK downstream chemical users.
(2) CBA member companies employ more than 8,700 people. They distribute, pack, and blend over 4 million tonnes of chemicals each year with a market value of almost three billion euros. In addition, CBA’s logistics member companies handle more than four million tonnes of chemicals annually.