"It is the manufacturing industry that mainly explains the decline in the barometer indicator. Trade and service sector confidence indicators also fell, while confidence indicators for households and construction activities rose," KI writes in a press release.
The barometer indicator for February fell to 100.1, down from 102.8 in January. For the manufacturing industry, the sub-index fell to 97.7 from 103.4.
The household confidence indicator rose to 96.3 from 95.0.
Regarding future price developments, the business community expects sales prices to increase "to a normal extent" over the next three months.
"The grocery trade clearly deviates in that companies to a very high extent expect reduced sales prices," writes KI.
