German machine tool production is expected to increase by 30% in 2011

In 2011, German machine tool production is expected to increase by 30%. Martin Kapp, President of the German Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (VDW), pointed out at the annual meeting of the industry: "The industry output is expected to return to 13 billion euros, and we will have the opportunity to recover the damage caused during the economic crisis."

Since the end of 2009, orders from the German machine tool industry have started to show double-digit growth, mainly driven by China, South Korea and India. Since German machine tools are mainly exported, about two-thirds of them are exported to the rest of the world, so the rapid recovery of overseas markets has driven the growth of the industry. In the future, the German domestic market will also pick up.

In August 2010, the industry's sales increased for the first time in two years. In the whole year of 2010, the output of the machine tool industry still fell slightly by 3% compared to 2009. In terms of exports, German machine tool exports fell by 1% year-on-year in 2010. In recent years, China has always been the largest export market for German machine tools. In 2010, China's market share was about 28%, and exports increased by 29% compared with 2009. Germany’s exports of machine tools to China are four times that of the United States, which ranks second in market share.

One of the important reasons why the German machine tool industry can quickly recover from the crisis is that the industry has kept high-quality professionals in its core business as much as possible during the crisis. As of December 2010, the industry had 63,800 employees, a 13% drop from the historical peak in October 2008, and 9,600 people lost their jobs. However, since July 2010, the reduction in personnel has gradually improved.

In the international arena, the economic crisis means a major restructuring of the world machine tool industry, and Asian machine tool production is among the highest in the world. China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have both achieved double-digit growth in 2010. In contrast, the European data is not ideal, and its machine tool production fell by 1% in 2010. The same is true in the United States, where actual production has fallen by 9%.

In 2009, China's machine tool production ranked first in the world for the first time, surpassing Japan, Germany, Italy and South Korea. The United States is ranked 8th in the world, and other European countries Switzerland, Austria and Spain rank 7th, 9th and 10th in the world.

Despite this, Martin Kapp believes that Asia does not pose a direct threat to the German machine tool industry. For example, about 90% of China's products are simple machines that are used to satisfy their local markets. Another competitor is Japan, but it mainly produces short-cycle standard products, so order changes will be quickly reflected in production. In contrast, Germany mainly produces customized products with a long project cycle. Therefore, Martin Kapp believes that German machine tool production will catch up with its competitors this year.