"We expect moderate growth in the German electrical industry in 2017, with an increase of 1.5% in price-adjusted production and around 2% in turnover," said Dr. Gunther Kegel at the Hannover Messe 2017 on 25 April. From today's perspective, he expects the automation industry to perform better. "After a very good start to 2017 with growth rates for January and February 2017 of 7.2% in sales and 2.3% in incoming orders, the German automation industry is optimistic about the future - despite all the global risks," said Kegel, who was confirmed in office as Chairman of the ZVEI Executive Board at the beginning of March 2017. After some quite challenging months, particularly for process automation, the ZVEI has observed a significant upturn in business in all areas of automation since fall 2016. Europe is performing strongly and China and North America are starting to recover." Growth drivers include higher energy prices and the trend towards Industry 4.0. The ZVEI is therefore forecasting mid to high single-digit growth for the specialist areas of automation in the coming year: "The automation industry is expecting sales growth of 3% in the factory automation sector for 2017," says Kegel.

The number of people employed in automation in Germany has risen slightly: from 261,600 in 2015 to around 264,900 at the end of December 2016.

Figures on measurement technology & process automation

According to Eckard Eberle, Deputy Chairman of the Metrology and Process Automation division, there is also optimism in the process automation sector. "Last year, we spoke of an increase in turnover of around 2% in this area: We met that for 2016 with growth of 2.2% in turnover," said Eberle at the press conference in Hanover. However, this increase in turnover was influenced by exchange rates and benefited from the weak euro.

According to Eberle, the general conditions for measurement technology and process automation improved overall last year:

"Oil and gas prices remain at a relatively low level, but they have risen in recent months. More global investments are being made in this area of the process industry again," says Eberle. Demand from China has also picked up: "German exports rose by 10.4% in 2016". Another point: the Russia-Ukraine conflict had less of an impact in 2016. Exports to Russia increased again last year - by 15.9%. According to Eberle, another bright spot among the BRIC countries was India: exports to India increased by 15.3 %. In South America, on the other hand, the after-effects of the financial crisis continue to be felt, as do relatively low oil prices and political instability - "This explains why German process automation companies delivered 14.5% less to Brazil last year," says Eberle.