The February survey of the quick survey on industrial production among large companies associated with Confindustria shows stable expectations compared to the previous month, highlighting a slight increase in uncertainty. The number of respondents who expect production to remain stable decreases, but remains at about half of the sample (48.0%). The companies surveyed that no longer believe in the stability of the level of production are more than one third convinced that production will increase (35.8%) and only 16.2% state that it will decrease. (Graph 1).

• The industrialists interviewed still regard demand and orders as the main drivers supporting production. The positive balance between the share of companies that consider them as driving factors and the share of companies that consider them as hindrances showed a slight increase to +2.5% from +2.4% in January (Chart 2).
• The companies' view on labour availability in the coming months remains unchanged (- 1.0%).
• The production cost balance deteriorated sharply (-5.7% from -3.0%), despite the slight improvement in the latest energy price data, which continue to be high.
• Ratings for financial conditions improved robustly (+7.2% from +1.4%), in line with the stimulus of a less restrictive monetary policy after the rate cut at the end of January .
• The negative assessment on the availability of materials consolidated: the balance worsened compared to the January survey (-3.9% from -2.2%).
• Sentiment on plant availability continues to remain in positive territory this month, although worsening compared to last month. The balance was +0.8% in February, down from the January survey (+2.3%).