VDMA
Germany no longer world export champion
China left Germany, the world's leading exporter of mechanical engineering, in the dust last year. This is the result of a study by the VDMA. A neck-and-neck race is expected in the future.
According to their own calculations, Germany's mechanical engineering companies have lost their title as world export champion to China. According to an initial estimate by the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) for the past year, China accounted for 15.8% of the total export volume of machinery and equipment at 165 billion euros.
Germany sold machinery and equipment worth 162 billion euros abroad, giving it a 15.5% share of the estimated global foreign trade volume of around 1048 billion euros in this area in 2020. In 2019, German suppliers still had a lead of 1.4 percentage points over China in the foreign trade statistics for mechanical engineering. The study, which was published by the VDMA on Wednesday, had previously been reported on by Die Welt.
"The corona pandemic in particular has given China's rise a strong boost because the country was affected very early and only for a very short time, while the European sales market suffered a severe setback as a result of the pandemic," explained Ulrich Ackermann, Head of VDMA Foreign Trade, in a statement from the association. "A strong economic recovery in the EU could ensure that machinery exports from Germany and other European countries grow more strongly again in 2021. But the long-term trend clearly speaks in favor of China."
Positive effects of the "Made in China 2025" strategy expected
According to the VDMA, China's rise also opens up opportunities for German manufacturers. For example, there is "noticeable pent-up demand" in the field of industrial robots in China, which promises good export opportunities. According to a survey of 222 member companies on which the study is based, around 36% of machinery and plant manufacturers from Germany and Switzerland consider the Chinese "Made in China 2025" strategy to be positive for their own business. With this strategy and the current five-year plan, the People's Republic is aiming for technological dominance in various industrial fields, such as intelligent manufacturing, robotics and agricultural technology.
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