The Bavarian handicraft businesses still rate their situation mostly positively, but when looking into the future, concerns arise. In the second quarter, 48 percent of the companies surveyed said the business situation was good, as the Bavarian Chamber of Crafts announced on Friday. That’s four points less than a year ago. Another 38 percent rate the situation as satisfactory. However, only eight percent now expect an improvement in the coming months. That is almost a halving compared to the previous year. The business climate index for the trades fell by 10 points to 109. “In particular, the main construction trades, as the growth engine for the trades, are no longer running at full steam,” said the President of the Bavarian Handicrafts Day (BHT), Franz Xaver Peteranderl. “The strong price increases and rising interest rates could stall the construction industry,” he warned. However, there is still a high order backlog. According to initial estimates, turnover in the trades increased by a nominal 13 percent to 64.8 billion euros in the first half of the year. Minus the price development, however, it is only 3.3 percent. For the year as a whole, Peteranderl expects nominal growth of ten percent, but how much of this will remain after deducting price increases is not yet foreseeable. In addition to missing employees due to Corona, the trade is also concerned about a possible gas bottleneck. Consumers would probably notice this especially in the food sector, said Peteranderl. For example, bakers could then offer fewer different types of rolls or pastries because changing types takes time and thus drives up gas consumption.
In the craft, the mood worsens – Bavaria
