In the first quarter of this year, order bookings in the German machine tool industry increased by 10 percent year on year, according to the German Machine Tool Builders' Association (VDW). Given the dominance of the German industry in the mechanical engineering sector, data released by the VDW are seen as a barometer for general business conditions in the EU.
Domestic orders in the German machine tool industry in the first quarter of the current year increased by 20 percent, while export orders were up five percent, both compared to the same quarter of 2013.
"The domestic market is a major source of demand for the machine tool sector right now," said Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, executive director of the VDW, commenting on the results. "No clear increase in demand as yet been noted from foreign customers. Orders from the euro zone in particular were down by ten percent. A nine percent increase was seen in orders from outside the euro zone in the first quarter. We are pinning our hopes on Asia and America," explains Schäfer.