In the third quarter of 2010, order bookings in the German machine tool industry showed another profound rise of 117 percent, while domestic demand was up by 99 percent and export orders were up by 128 percent, all on year-on-year basis, according to the German Machine Tool Builders' Association (VDW). Given the dominance of German industry in the mechanical engineering sector, data released by the VDW are seen as a barometer for general business conditions in the EU.
In the period from January to September 2010, overall demand was 77 percent up on the preceding year's equivalent figure. Domestic customers ordered 69 percent more, while the figure for customers abroad was up 82 percent.
Capacity utilization continues to make huge upward strides, at 85.9 percent in October, the VDW said, adding that the order backlog in June was 6.9 months. At the end of the year's third quarter, there were 64,300 people employed in the German machine tool sector.
"The good news is this: the upturn is gaining in breadth. Production output in the major German customer industries is picking up speed," stated Dr. Wilfried Schäfer, executive director of the VDW in Frankfurt am Main. "Instead of a 12 percent minus, we are now predicting a production minus of only six percent," announced Schäfer, regarding the association's sales forecast in 2010. At €9.3 billion, this means the sector will roughly equal the level of 2004.