Foreign trade
Exports from machine builders and the electrical industry are increasing
The mechanical engineering companies in Germany are looking to the future with confidence. Photo: Stefan Puchner / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The export-oriented industrial sectors mechanical engineering and electrical industry benefit from the strong demand from abroad. However, material shortages and delivery problems are a cause for concern.
The global demand for “Made in Germany” is driving the export business of mechanical engineers and the electrical industry. In mechanical engineering, the pre-crisis level of exports is in sight, according to the industry association VDMA. However, delivery bottlenecks are a cause for concern.
This also applies to the German electrical industry. This recorded a further increase in exports in September, although the growth dynamic weakened somewhat, according to the industry association ZVEI.
The pre-crisis level of machine exports in 2019 is within reach thanks to good demand from foreign customers, explained Ralph Wiecher’s VDMA chief economist. “Only the widespread material and logistics bottlenecks can thwart us here.”
The exports of machine and plant manufacturers rose in the third quarter compared to the same period of the previous year by 8.8 percent to 44.6 billion euros, as reported by the VDMA in Frankfurt with a view to the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office. In the first nine months, the manufacturers posted an increase compared to the corresponding period of the corona crisis year 2020 of 10.8 percent to 133.2 billion euros.
Exports to the countries of the European Union, which is the most important sales region for German machine builders, increased by 5.8 percent in the third quarter. 18 percent were exported to the USA. In contrast, exports to China only increased by 3 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. “An increase in dynamism in China is not to be expected in the short term, because important customer sectors such as construction and automotive are not sending any expansive impulses,” explained Wiechers.
The exports of the German electrical industry totaled 165.3 billion euros in the first nine months – an increase of 11.5 percent compared to the same period in the previous year, according to the Central Association of the Electrical and Electronics Industry (ZVEI). “The growth thus corresponded to the rates of increase in production and sales,” explained ZVEI chief economist Andreas Gontermann. In September, the industry’s exports totaled 19.1 billion euros, 6.0 percent above the figure for the same month last year.
In June, the German electronics industry set out to make up for the minus six percent production losses in 2020 this year. At the time, the ZVEI raised the forecast for production growth for the full year 2021 from five to eight percent. The order books of many companies are currently full, but material shortages and delivery problems are holding back.