In the fourth quarter of 2024, the order intake for the German machine tool industry fell by 7 percent compared to the same period last year. Orders from both domestic and foreign markets dropped similarly, by 7 and 6 percent respectively. For the entire year of 2024, the order intake decreased by 19 percent. Domestic orders were recorded at 9 percent below the previous year, while foreign orders saw a decline of 24 percent.
The situation in our industry remains challenging,” comments Dr. Markus Heering, Managing Director of VDW (Association of German Machine Tool Manufacturers), Frankfurt am Main, on the results. The U.S. market offers significant opportunities for the indispensable German manufacturing technology, but Trump's tariff policy poses high risks, Heering continues. Ongoing turbulence in the global economy, with a looming trade war, is affecting the willingness to invest broadly. In particular, the critical situation in the automotive and supplier industries is burdensome. However, there are still glimmers of hope in specific areas, such as aviation, medical technology, precision mechanics, energy, shipbuilding, and defense, which repeatedly lead to large orders, reports Heering. The business with services, components, repairs, maintenance, and modifications is also developing better than new machine sales. However, all regions of the world lost a quarter of their order volume last year.
More momentum is expected only in the second half of the year when lower inflation and interest rates support an investment recovery. “We expect clear support from the new federal government on all points that the industry has been demanding for months: reducing bureaucracy, cutting costs, strengthening competitiveness and investment activity, to name just a few,” says VDW Managing Director Heering.
The burden from the declining order intake over the past two years is now also being felt in machine tool production. In 2024, it has moderately decreased by 4 percent. A significant decline of 10 percent is expected in 2025.
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