Markets & Economy
Whether for operational market research or strategic planning, the economic and statistical information supplied by VDW equips our members with exclusive knowledge and indispensable decision-making tools.
The core of our services consists of representative and detailed up-to-date association statistics made available exclusively to our member companies. The main focus is on monthly and quarterly incoming order statistics as an up-to-date indicator, differentiated according to technologies and markets. Further data relate to production abroad and the customer structure of German machine tool manufacturers.
In addition, we produce data on all key parameters for the industry, such as production, foreign trade, employees, and business climate, primarily based on official statistics.
We also report in detail on the place of the industry in the international context. We issue national statistics on machine tool production, foreign trade, consumption, and incoming orders for our members throughout the world, broken down for specific technologies.
In cooperation with our forecasting partner Oxford Economics, we regularly produce short- and medium-term prognoses for the German machine tool industry, and for developments on the global and key national markets, as a support tool for planning activities.
Via our China Representative Office, we offer our companies a vast network and specific support for dealing with the world’s biggest market.
Knowledge of the key customer industries is indispensable for assessing the market. Our information focuses primarily on the automobile sector with its supplier industries and the machine construction sector as the chief customer groups, as well as on medical engineering.
Important strategic developments in relation to markets, technologies, and customer segments are analysed in specific surveys involving external specialist expertise.
For interested members of the public, we also regularly provide updated key figures relating to the industry as well as an annual in-depth market report.
More information
Current statistcs
The following quarterly up-dated statistics show the most important data of the German machine tool industry.
Latest update: February 23, 2023
Data availability: year 2022 (preliminary)
production figures by machine groups 1-3Q 2022
VDW Market Report 2021
In a detailed yearly report we describe the situation, prospects, and international position of the sector. The report combines interpretations with elucidating tables and diagrams based on the previous year’s data.
The machine tool industry managed to rally faster and better than expected from the COVID crises. Orders worldwide showed a sharp increase once again in 2021, rising above the 2019 level. This is equally true of the industry in Germany with its impressive boost in orders, that more than compensated for the losses recorded in the crisis year 2020.
German machine tool production, however, grew at a much lower rate than orders. Even though Germany remained the world export champion and order books were tightly filled again, the manufacturers faced severe challenges. Aside from the ongoing uncertainties about the pandemic, global supply bottlenecks kept on placing heavy burden on the sector. Fat order books gave hope for the current year, but the outlook has become overcast by no fewer than two crises. Owing to the dependency on Russian energy, the war in Ukraine constitutes a heavy burden to the German industry. Of an even more critical character are the effects induced by China’s stringent zero-COVID policy, exacerbating the already existing disruption in global logistics and supply chains.