Industry and trade slightly up

Industry and retail trade will register a slight increase over the next three or four months, according to a survey conducted in November by the National Statistics Institute (INS) among the managers dealing in the two fields. According to the survey, the growth pace of the processing industry operations will stabilise by late this year or early next year, with this trend supported by the output increases in the previous month and by the cut in end product inventories. The number of employees will keep going down slightly, with this trend showing mainly in those companies employing more than 500 people. The managers of the companies dealing in retail trade also anticipate the sales of commodities will register a slight increase over the next three or four months. Most of the canvassed managers estimate the stock of commodities is normal, given the season demand. Under the circumstances, the volume of commodities ordered from the suppliers is estimated to be approximately the same as in the previous month. ZF