© Statistisches Bundesamt, VDMA

Europe proved to be the most important pillar of German machinery exports. Exports to the EU grew by 4.1% and those to the eurozone by 5.3% . The EU thus accounted for almost half (46.5%) of the machinery exported by Germany. By contrast, sales on the major overseas markets were less pleasing: German machinery deliveries to the USA, the most important single market, fell by 2.9% to 16.3 billion euros. China accounted for 9.3% less equipment sales. There were particularly significant setbacks in commodity price-dependent countries such as Brazil and Saudi Arabia.