Machine tools Strong demand and solid support from euro-zone

The expectations weren't great at the beginning of the year. However, despite political insecurities the orders received by the German machine tool industry were 6% higher compared to last year.

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Germany – Orders received by the German machine tool industry in the first quarter of 2017 were 6% up on the previous year. Domestic demand rose by 2%, while overseas orders grew by 8%.

"Orders received by the German machine tool industry have therefore been stronger than expected," said Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders' Association) in Frankfurt am Main, commenting on the result. International demand remains consistently high. The euro countries represent a reliable market. There was a disproportionately high increase of 23 per cent in orders for machine tools from there in the first quarter in comparison to the same period last year. "Furthermore, the increase in demand from the key Chinese market is now broader based," reported Schäfer.

Orders rose last year by more than twenty per cent, primarily due to large international automotive industry projects in China. The strong development has continued, however, in the first quarter of 2017. There was a 13 per cent increase in metal forming technology orders. This rise in demand came both from home and abroad. Machining equipment orders, however, which represent about 70 per cent of the total, only rose by 3 per cent. The main source of growth here was foreign markets, which posted an increase of 6 per cent. Domestic demand, by contrast, fell by 4 per cent.

"The German machine tool industry continues to perform stably and at a high level, undeterred by the many crises and uncertainties affecting different parts of the world," said VDW Executive Director Schäfer.

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