German machine tool industry performing well

Frankfurt am Main – In the third quarter of 2015, order bookings in the German machine tool industry fell by 1% compared to the preceding year’s equivalent period. Domestic orders rose by 9%, while demand from abroad was down by 7%. In the first nine months of 2015, order bookings stagnated compared to the previous year. Domestic orders fell by 3%, with demand from abroad up by 1%.

“In the year’s third quarter, our sector was boosted by orders from Germany itself and from the Eurozone,” comments Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, executive director of the trade organization VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association) in Frankfurt am Main. To general surprise, Western Europe proved to be the motor for demand in the German machine tool industry. The Americas, by contrast, were disappointing, with orders down across the board. Asia as a whole scored with modest growth. Good business with South Korea and Japan, however, was offset by a substantial minus in orders from China, the biggest market. 

Domestic business, which accounts for round one-third of total order bookings, remained a support as well, driven by consumers’ purchasing moods, and concomitant investments from the industrial sector. 

In the first three quarters of 2015, orders settled to a high level. In the same period, turnover even rose by 2%. The VDW is confident that this will be repeated in the overall result for 2015 as well. This does not quite correspond to the expectations at the beginning of the year. “Back then, we were forecasting growth of 3%. In a comparatively cyclical sector like the machine tool industry, however, forecast fluctuations of one per cent are not so uncommon,” says the VDW’s executive director. The macro-economic environment, he adds, also encompasses a whole lot of uncertainties. “Nonetheless, with a result of what would then be around 14.8 billion euros, we’re up at our best level,” Schäfer says.

Source: VDW