French construction sector improves further

French construction industry managers’ opinion about the sector improved in January, according to a l’Institut National de la Statistique et des Études Économiques (Insee) report monitored by Kallanish.

Companies remain quite confident on the general outlook of the sector in the next three months. More business managers in the construction industry than in the previous month reported that their recent activity increased over the past three months, the report says.

Given their present staff size, companies consider their order books provide 9.9 months of work, slightly more than in December and much more than the long-term average, Insee explains.

Last month, capacity utilisation rate increased again. At the same time, production bottlenecks became more significant after easing in December, concerning 40% of the construction companies surveyed.

In January, significantly more business managers reported an improvement in their cash-flow position. A greater number also said they will increase their prices over the next three months, the report concludes.