Although the outlook remains uncertain for the nation’s economy, the baking and snack industries seem bullish about their prospects moving forward, according to Baking & Snack’s 19th Annual Capital Spending Survey. In fact, 26% of survey respondents indicated that their companies expect to spend a greater amount on capital expenditures in 2013 compared with 2012. That’s a significantly higher rate than the 18% tallied by last year’s survey who had predicted spending increases for the following year.

Another 38% plan to spend about the same amount in 2013 as they will this year, while only 6% look to invest less. The wildcard is the 30% who remain “unsure” at this time about 2013 capital spending. That may be because many of those companies operate on a strict year-to-year budgeting process.

“The economy is in the tank, but the companies in this industry are figuring out how to deal with it so it is not affecting their investments as much,” said noted Marjorie Troxel Hellmer, president of Kansas City, MO-based Cypress Research Associates, which completed the survey in December.

“They’re not as reactionary as in the past, although they are still dealing with many of the same issues as before,” she said. “They have survived to this point, and they’ve figured out the model they need for long-term success.”

Check out the February issue of Baking & Snack magazine for information on our exclusive capital spending survey.