Industrial production in July 9 percent higher than a year earlier

In July 2026, Statistics Netherlands (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, the Dutch national statistics office) announced that Dutch industry produced 9 percent more than in July 2025. This is the strongest growth in four years. In June, growth was still 5 percent.

Around half of the industrial sectors produced more in July than they did last year. The machinery industry grew the most. The industry that manufactures transport equipment, such as cars and trains, produced less.

Production also increased when July is compared with June, rising by 1.6 percent. Production usually changes rapidly: sometimes it declines and sometimes it rises. The lowest level of production was recorded in May 2020, after which conditions improved until May 2022.

Industry has been growing again since the beginning of 2026, and July saw the highest production ever recorded. Business confidence in industry has also increased. In August, they were more optimistic about the future than they had been in July.

Confidence rose from 2.4 in July to 3.7 in August. This is the highest level in four years. Companies in the electrical engineering and machinery industries are particularly positive.

In August, two-thirds of companies were more confident than before. Confidence was at its highest in October 2021 (10.5) and at its lowest in April 2020 (-31.5).