ENGINEERINGNET.EU -- “This means the sector will be back to its previous high from 2008”, reports Martin Kapp, Chairman of the Machine Tool Builders’ Association.
Last year went better than expected: the good starting position with the order books full and capacity utilisation at a high level sustained production throughout 2012, said Kapp. With growth totalling 9 per cent, the sector achieved a production volume worth 14.1 billion euros.
With its production output result, the German machine tool industry was definitely the winner in 2012, out in front of its major competitors. Excluding exchange-rate effects, production output in China was down; the Japanese marked time.
Production output of machine tools in the USA was indeed up, thanks to a dynamic domestic market but at 7 per cent was still behind Germany’s figure.
Total growth in the pan-European machine tool industry came to only half the German sector’s level.
For 2013, the VDW’s forecasting partner, Oxford Economics, is confident that industrial production output and fixed-asset investments will once again be showing a somewhat steeper increase worldwide. This applies primarily to Asia and America, less to Europe.
“All in all, the macro-economic environment offers plenty of momentum in 2013. Early indicators like the worldwide Purchasing Manager Index and the ifo Business Climate Index for the German machine tool industry have been pointing upwards for some months now”, says a confident Martin Kapp. On the domestic market, by contrast, he continues, demand remains subdued.
