The German Machine Tool Industry Is Under Great Pressure

Frankfurt, May 29, 2020. In the first quarter of 2020, orders received by the German machine tool industry fell by 25% compared with the same period last year. Orders from Germany fell 22 per cent and orders from outside Germany fell 27 per cent.

Dr Wilfried Schafer, executive director of the German Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (VDW) in Frankfurt, commented: "Global demand for machine tools fell sharply last year due to various challenging factors, but at the beginning of the year it fell even more. He also pointed out that the current report can only see the impact of some of the new crown outbreak, it will be a few months before the full impact of the outbreak will be apparent.

In the field of metal cutting machines with a wide range of applications, orders fell by more than twice as much as in the metal forming machine industry, while orders for metal forming machines came more from some projects. At present, Germany's domestic machine tool consumption market has brought a glimmer of hope to people. In March, domestic machine tool orders unexpectedly rose 4 per cent, mainly due to project projects in the pressure processing industry.

The only region in germany where machine tool orders grew in the first quarter was in the Americas, particularly Mexico, thanks largely to the automotive business. Orders from six countries rose in the top 15 machine tool consumer markets: the United States, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Canada and the Netherlands. "Russia used to be the third largest market for the German machine tool industry," Schafer said. However, economic sanctions have led to a sharp decline in related businesses. It is still quite gratifying to see Russia recover from the current crisis. "

Sales of machine tool sales in Germany also fell by 18% in the first quarter. "This is exactly the same as our 2020 forecast, released in February," Schafer continued. "However, it is already clear that the order figures do not fully reflect the extent of the decline and that the eventual decline will be even worse." Capacity utilization in the German machine tool industry also fell by 18 percentage points between January and April this year, to 64%. We now expect the situation to improve in the second half of this year, but only if the blockade is further scaled back to resume production. He concluded: This will determine the machine tool industry at the end of this year. "