Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director VDW. Picture: Collected
“Orders for our
industry continued to flow in during the first quarter of this year,” commented
Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director of the VDW (German Machine Tool
Builders’ Association), Frankfurt am Main.
Orders received by the German machine tool industry in the
first quarter of 2022 were 44 percent up on the same period last year. There
was a 44 percent increase in orders both from within Germany and from abroad.
“Orders for our industry continued to flow in during the
first quarter of this year,” commented Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, Executive Director
of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association), Frankfurt am Main.
“They were only 8 percent below the figures posted in the record year of 2018,”
he continued. However, the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war are expected to
become more pronounced in the coming months, he said. This is evidenced firstly
by the most recent growth rates, which have been significantly lower. Secondly,
the supply bottlenecks remain the biggest problem and are far from being
resolved. “This issue will be with us for quite a few months,” Schäfer fears.
Supply bottlenecks are also the reason why production
continues to lag far behind orders. In the first quarter, production rose by a
disproportionately low 6 percent. In response, the VDW has lowered its
production forecast for the current year from 14 to 8 percent growth.
“At present, the new machines are simply ending up in
storage, as many of them cannot be put into operation because of missing
parts,” explained Schäfer. However, these machines do not appear in the
production figures until they are loaded onto trucks or ships. China is
currently the source of a great deal of uncertainly. The lockdowns in numerous
major cities and industrial centers are preventing customers from taking
delivery of machines, and service personnel from traveling to their customers.
As with production, there is currently little momentum
behind exports. There was a slight increase of 1 percent in the first quarter.
Europe and the Americas have posted slight declines of 2 percent and 1 percent
respectively. Asia has grown by 8 percent, with Central and South Asia and
Southeast Asia growing much more strongly than East Asia. At 4 percent, exports
to China, the largest sales market, grew only moderately at the beginning of
the year. China accounts for a good 19 percent of German exports, while the US
market takes a much smaller share of 13 percent. Exports to the USA fell by 6
percent in the first quarter. Italy ranks third among the ten most important
sales markets, accounting for both an increase and also a share of 6 percent.
After the poor performance of the previous year, business with Switzerland
bounced back, with 70 percent growth in the first quarter. This returns the
country to 4th place in the rankings. Exports to Austria were lower compared
with the very strong first quarter of 2021. Exports to Poland were also down
slightly on the previous year’s level. The Netherlands figures remain buoyant,
with the country taking 11 percent more machine tools in the first quarter than
last year. France has continued its downward slide, falling by 18 percent. Mexico
and Turkey complete the top 10, posting sizeable double-digit growth rates of
27 and 26 percent respectively.
Total imports have grown by 20 percent, driven by
Switzerland, Japan and China, whose shipments have seen significant increases.
“All in all, the economic uncertainties facing our industry
remain considerable going forward,” said VDW Executive Director Schäfer,
summing up. “A prolonged war in Ukraine, further soaring prices for energy,
logistics and raw materials, and a complete embargo on oil and gas supplies
from Russia would have a significant impact. Nevertheless, the high levels of
orders currently on the books are easing the situation. There is therefore a
chance that some of this year’s downturn in growth will turn into sales figures
in the coming year. International machine tool consumption is estimated to rise
by 10 percent this year, which could also help matters,” Schäfer concluded.
|Source: Online/KSU
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