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| The German manufacturers have overtaken Japan to become the world no. 2 machine tool supplier. |
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Germany's machine tool industry is gaining renewed confidence for 2010.
Martin Kapp, Chairman of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders' Association), expressed his expectation at the organisation's annual press conference that
although the ongoing year is going to be tough, the industry nonetheless expects a significant upturn in business during the first half of the year.
The newly industrialising countries China and India have recovered rapidly from the global financial and economic crisis. Other important markets like the USA, Russia or Brazil are getting back on track for growth. In structural terms, the more and more orders are coming from project business. Domestic demand is stabilising more slowly, and is at present being invigorated mainly by the warehousing cycle.
On a historical comparison, this decline is nonetheless unprecedented. All the key statistics went deep into minus territory during 2009. Order bookings fell by more than half. Domestic orders slumped by 61 per cent, orders from abroad by 50 per cent. Exports sank by around 27% in the months from January to November. Only deliveries to East and South-East Asia showed an actual increase. With German exports growing by 11% to reach 1.15 billion euros, the Chinese market is now almost three times as large as the USA in second place.
Germany's machine tool industry is coming through this crisis in much better shape than was the case in earlier downturns. This is apparent not least in the fact that the German manufacturers have emphatically overtaken their principal competitors, Japan. Their machine tool production output fell twice as steeply as their German counterparts, by 60% to around 5 billion euros, excluding parts and accessories. German manufacturers have slightly increased their share of the global market, and are now approximately 7 % in front of Japan in the rankings.
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