Domestic machine tool orders were up by 19 percent, while demand from abroad increased by 14 percent, the German association announced. The Eurozone contributed growth of 37 percent, and non-Eurozone nations provided a 10-percent rise in orders.

Order bookings for the first half of the year increased by a substantial 12 percent compared to the same period last year. While domestic orders rose by 10 percent, orders from abroad were also up 13 percent. The higher level of demand results primarily from good domestic business, and in particular from automotive projects in China and Mexico, commented VDW’s executive director of the sectoral organisation Dr Wilfried Schafer.

With regards to the first half of 2016, one-off effects are primarily responsible for the positive order situation. Abroad, machining centres and milling machines are benefiting particularly from large-scale orders.

All other metal-cutting technologies, plus significant areas of forming technology, however, are performing less well in terms of nondomestic orders from abroad. In Germany, by contrast, the picture is somewhat different. “Metal cutting is two percent up, and the current as-is situation gives reason to hope that a broad spectrum of technologies can benefit from this,” said Mr Schafer.

Turnover in the first half of 2016 ended up slightly better than breakeven. “In view of the encouraging development of orders in the year’s first six months, and the range of order backlogs, now recovered to over seven months, we are anticipating a perceptible rise in turnover for the upcoming period,” said Mr Schafer. This, he added, is conditional on demand levels remaining stable in the year’s second half as well, particularly on the domestic market.

APMEN Sept 2016, News