Bakers and snack manufacturers express more confidence for projected capital spending in 2013 than they did last year at this time, according to the results of Baking & Snack’s annual Capital Spending Survey conducted late last fall by Cypress Research Associates, Kansas City, MO.

In fact, 47% of respondents indicated that their companies will spend more in 2013 on capital improvements than they planned in 2012. That’s significantly higher than last year’s survey, when only 26% noted that they would be increasing their budgets for capital spending.

The latest survey also indicates another 41% of companies will spend about the same on capital expenditures in this year as they did in the past. In all, 88% of companies surveyed plan to maintain or increase the amount they invest for 2013.

Only 9% said they plan to spend less in 2013 than in 2012, with the remaining 3% still unsure about the projected budgets for this year.

The overall mood this year is significantly better than two years ago when the nation was just beginning to recover from the recession.

Back then, only 18% of those surveyed said they planned to spend more the following year 32% said they planned to spend the same and 20% indicated they would spend less.

Perhaps most significantly, 30% said they were “not sure” what their capital spending plans were, reflecting their uncertainly about the economy at that time.