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More than a quarter of Belgium's manufacturing capacity is sitting idle as the country's industrial downturn deepens, with factory utilization falling to its lowest level since April 2020, according to central bank figures reported Wednesday.
Data from the National Bank of Belgium (NBB), cited by Belgian newspapers De Tijd and L'Echo, showed that manufacturing capacity utilization declined to 73% in the third quarter of 2026, leaving an average of 27% of production capacity unused.
The figures point to mounting pressure on Belgian manufacturers as weakening demand continues to weigh on industrial activity.
Belgium's manufacturing sector has rarely operated at such low capacity since records began in the late 1980s.
According to the NBB figures, capacity utilization has fallen below the current level in only four quarters over that period.
Excluding the coronavirus pandemic, similarly weak readings were recorded primarily during the 2009 global financial crisis.
The latest figure also represents a decline of nearly 4 percentage points compared with the average recorded between 2021 and 2025, underscoring the prolonged weakness in industrial activity.
The downturn has affected Belgium's regions unevenly, with factories in the country's French-speaking south operating significantly further below capacity than those in the north.
Manufacturing capacity utilization stood at 75.3% in Flanders, compared with just 67.1% in Wallonia, a gap of 8.2 percentage points.
Several major industrial sectors have been particularly affected, including metal production, iron and steel processing, building materials and machinery manufacturing.
Capacity utilization across these industries has fallen significantly below levels recorded in recent years, reflecting the broader difficulties facing Belgium's manufacturing sector.
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