Impregnating businesses see little change in fortunes

Independent impregnating businesses have encountered relatively steady order intake in the past few weeks. The minor upswing that emerged in January after a rather weak final quarter of 2011 has thus remained in place. Nonetheless, business continues to be done at relatively short notice, meaning that fluctuations in capacity utilisations remain a feature of the market. Weekend shifts had to be cancelled or a few treating lines even shut down for a brief period, depending on order intake, continuing the trends seen in previous months. Companies that were not as busy idled a few machines for a long period of time. Insiders do not expect any fundamental changes in capacity utilisation in the second quarter, either.