German mechanical engineering sector registers less orders, production

Orders in the German mechanical engineering sector were 9 percent less in the first eight months of the year than in the previous year, the Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) said on Tuesday.

At the same time, production of Germany’s important engineering sector fell by 1.6 percent, according to VDMA. For both 2019 and 2020, the industry association confirmed earlier forecasts and is expecting a decline of 2 percent in real terms.

“It is still unclear whether we are only in a phase of economic weakness or at the beginning of a real recession. But a rapid upturn is definitely not in sight,” VDMA President Carl Martin Welcker said.

According to VDMA, trade disputes, increasing protectionism around the globe, the unresolved Brexit issue as well as far-reaching structural change in the automotive industry were “increasingly leaving their marks in the books of mechanical engineering companies”.

In July, 1.06 million employees were working in German mechanical engineering companies, according to VDMA.

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