Economic Situation - vdma.eu
Economic Development & Business Situation
The economic cycle plays a significant role in almost every area of the economy. After all, it plays a key role in determining the well-being of companies and employees. In fact, it is particularly relevant in the machinery and equipment manufacturing sector. After all, it plays a key role in determining the well-being of companies and employees in the mechanical engineering sector.
Even though incoming orders increased slightly in the first quarter of the year, forecasts for the mechanical engineering sectors remain cautious. The uncertainty is too great - especially with regard to the USA's customs policy.
The global machinery and equipment manufacturing industry continues to show mixed results: while some countries are reporting positive developments, others are struggling with declines.
The slight easing in order books in July is not a trend reversal: The hoped-for momentum in investments in mechanical engineering is still lacking. The promised relief must therefore come in the fall.
In the first half of 2025, price-adjusted production output in the EU machinery and equipment sector shrank by 3% compared to the previous year.
The quarterly report "Machinery & Equipment in China" contains relevant key figures such as production, sales, profit and investment trends in the local machinery and equipment industry as well as important customer industries in China.
The Economics and Statistics department provides you with all industry-relevant economic and market information. Benefit from our expertise and use our statistics as a basis for smart business decisions.
Although the situation in supply chains has eased, prices remain an important issue. To get an overview of current developments, it is worth taking a look at the interactive report.
The business outlook in the mechanical engineering sector remains virtually unchanged, while the mood among companies remains tense. There are significant differences between the sales regions.
The VDMA Business Survey Q2/2025 ran from June 24 to July 4, 2025 and received arround 1230 responses from 936 companies. The mood remains tense. Many are not expecting turnover growth until 2026.
Global machine turnover is expected to grow by one percent in price-adjusted terms in 2025 compared to the previous year, with significant differences in regional dynamics.
Following last year's price-adjusted decline in turnover, global machinery turnover is expected to rise by a moderate 1 percent in price-adjusted terms in 2025.
Stay successful in a volatile market: VDMA offers an interactive report on European business climate indicators. Follow the developments of your most important European target markets and customer industries at a glance and make informed decisions based on current data.
Incoming orders in May were a positive surprise - albeit on a weak prior-year basis. Overall, companies have recorded a small increase in orders so far this year, but global uncertainty remains high.
Geopolitical tensions dampen short-term business development
In our quarterly report, we provide you with information on India's macroeconomic development, as well as detailed information on the manufacturing industry and individual sectors with a particular focus on machinery and equipment.
Incoming orders in the mechanical engineering sector fell by 6% in real terms in April compared to the previous year. An expected setback, given the uncertainty caused by US tariff policy.
The global business situation in the mechanical engineering sector remains mixed. While India and Brazil are impressing with good figures, China is struggling with structural challenges. The USA is characterized by the latest tariff policy.
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The mechanical engineering sector started the year with a subdued export result. March at least showed a slight upward trend. However, the weaknesses in the Chinese and EU markets remain serious.
In 2024, German machinery exports to Latin America increased by 0.8% - after three previous years of strong growth. The Chart Pack provides facts and figures on the market.
Sentiment in the mechanical engineering sector improved somewhat at the start of 2025, but remains very mixed. A majority of companies do not expect slight growth again until 2026.
EU machinery and equipment manufacturing companies currently rate their competitive position as worse than the long-term average. This is particularly true to companies based in Germany.
In February, order books in the mechanical engineering sector filled up unexpectedly strongly by 8% in real terms. Part of this growth was due to large-scale plant business and part to component business.
Mechanical and plant engineering is one of the world's most important industrial sectors. We show the wide range of its economic indicators - presented in interactive charts and tables.
It's the same exercise every year: as part of the preparation of the management report, an overview of the overall economic development and the situation in the industry usually has to be provided.
As in the previous year, demand for capital goods was weak in 2024. Machinery and equipment worth an estimated 3.26 trillion euros was sold worldwide, 1.5% less than in 2023.
The overall result for orders in 2024 in the mechanical and plant engineering sector is disappointing. The wait for a turnaround continues. Better framework conditions in Germany are an important aspect of this.
The mechanical engineering sector is feeling the effects of the recession - yet companies only reduced their workforce by just under 1% in 2024. Even now, the core workforce is to be retained as much as possible.
The mood in the mechanical engineering sector remains tense, with one in three companies rating their own situation as poor. Business prospects are a small ray of hope - but reforms are urgently needed.
A small ray of hope in orders from eurozone countries in November does not change the overall weather situation: orders in the mechanical engineering sector are not gaining momentum.
VDMA member companies see the US market as an opportunity and are cautiously optimistic about the coming years. Many are building on good or even very good competitiveness, but this must be defended.
Heavy seas and no calm in sight: the mechanical engineering industry expects a decline in production and a slight reduction in jobs in 2025. A political turnaround is needed to strengthen the industry.
Order books in the mechanical engineering sector remain weak, with 9% fewer orders booked in October than in the previous year. Customers remain hesitant to make new investments
A weak global economy and many structural problems at home are weighing on the export business in the mechanical engineering sector. Exports fell by a good 5 percent in the first nine months.
The order situation in the mechanical engineering sector remains weak, particularly in Germany. However, companies are also still waiting for new investment momentum in global business.
According to the latest VDMA survey, the mood and prospects in the mechanical engineering sector have deteriorated noticeably. This makes it all the more urgent for politicians to finally set the course for new growth.
In August, incoming orders in the mechanical engineering sector increased by 7% compared to the previous year. However, the upward outlier is not yet a trend reversal; special factors were responsible for the result.
VDMA regularly generates data sheets with important indicators for its members. Raw data from various sources are processed for these. The latest data are provdided in our statistics database.
The VDMA statistics database offers all VDMA member companies fast and convenient access to economic information on all aspects of mechanical engineering.
In the last two years, the bottlenecks on the labor market for engineers have become much more acute. Never before has the mechanical engineering sector been looking for so many employees, and never before have there been so many vacancies for engineers.
The global mechanical and plant engineering industry reached a new record high in 2021. In euro terms, around 15% more machines were sold than in the previous year. China cracked the 1 trillion euro mark.
Research exclusively for participants in our monthly survey
In 2022, machinery and equipment sold worldwide was worth almost 3.4 trillion euros. In euro terms, this is around 12 percent more than a year earlier. In the TOP 10 country ranking, there were changes from seventh place onwards.
Mechanical engineering companies from Germany have to hold their own in an increasingly difficult economic environment. The year 2019 was marked by a weak global economy, increasingly harsh threats and sanctions in the global trade disputes, as well as a far-reaching structural change in the automotive industry.
As part of the ifo Business Survey, around 10,000 companies - including over 400 mechanical engineering firms - from Germany report their assessments of the current business situation, the outlook and much more important information to the economic research institute every month. Not a reporter yet? Then it is high time!
The brochure "Mechanical engineering - figures and charts 2022" provides a comprehensive overview of all the important statistics relating to mechanical engineering.
The Economy and Statistics Department in the VDMA collects industry relevant data and information that is not available from other sources in all its complexity. The information available includes:
A strongly rising order intake, better capacity utilization and a real production increase of 6.0 percent in the first four months of the current year: The economic momentum in the mechanical engineering industry is increasingly gaining momentum.
We have changed the survey on the economic situation for vacuum technology to a new digital format with the survey for the first quarter of 2021.
The German mechanical and plant engineering industry takes a fundamentally positive view of the German government's economic stimulus package. In terms of its thrust, it is suitable for triggering a surge in innovation, especially investment in climate technologies, digitization and drive systems in transition. In terms of tax policy, important steps to secure liquidity are planned. The historic sum of 130 billion euros commits to an efficient use of funds. Only in this way can competitiveness be strengthened after the crisis.
Exports of food processing and packaging machinery will continue to grow in the first half of 2025, bucking the trend in the mechanical engineering sector as a whole.
The Japan Construction Report is provided by the VDMA team in Tokyo. It contains news of the construction, glass and ceramics industry of Japan and is published monthly. The most recent report can be downloaded from this website.
In August 2025, 216 fire-fighting vehicles were newly registered in Germany.
Current forecasts, key figures and background information on agricultural framework conditions, business and market development - worldwide, in Europe and in Germany.
In July, incoming orders in the food processing and packaging machinery sector fell by 15% in real terms compared to the same month last year. Domestic demand fell by 30%, while foreign orders dropped by 11%.
The building valves industry saw only modest growth in the first half of 2025. Neither the government change nor the “construction turbo” spurred lasting recovery. For 2025, VDMA forecasts just 3 percent revenue growth.
In June, the mechanical engineering sector in Saarland once again saw a double-digit decline in orders. There was also no improvement in turnover.
After good previous months, the turnover of industrial valves manufacturers continued to develop positively in July. Sales continued to rise both in Germany and abroad.
After a volatile spring, manufacturers of building fittings recorded declining sales in July, both in Germany and abroad.
As an important service, VDMA Armaturen offers member companies regular updates on key industry facts relating to the building and industrial valves industry.
The industry's key figures at a glance.
Both domestic and foreign orders and sales increased in June.
In July 2025, incoming orders in the mechanical and plant engineering sector in North Rhine-Westphalia were 1% higher than in the previous year.
In July 2025, incoming orders in the Bavarian mechanical and plant engineering sector recorded a year-on-year increase of 19% in real terms
Download the key figures (in German) here.
Download the key figures (in German) here.
An overview of all offers of the trade association for market observation, market information and user industries.
Exclusive country reports for VDMA members to monitor developments in the automotive industry and its suppliers, provided by VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association
The building technology sector offers key solutions for the energy transition – yet it shrank by 4 percent in 2024. The issue isn’t a lack of innovative technology, but rather a lack of political reliability in increasingly uncertain timeson
Information on the development of incoming orders for manufacturers of compressors, compressed air and vacuum technology can be found here.
Information on the development of incoming orders for liquid pumps can be found here.
Incoming orders in the mechanical engineering sector in Rhineland-Palatinate did not improve in June either, as they remain negative across the board. In terms of turnover, the growth in other foreign countries is pleasing.
Monthly tracking of the market development of raw materials relevant to valves with a focus on steel and cast iron.
With a monthly update, which is exclusively available to VDMA member companies for download, we inform you about the development of price indices for process engineering goods.
We produce monthly data sheets on various sectors, categories and countries based on data from Euromonitor International. We publish these via the NuV-Telegram newsletter and make them available for download here.
On a monthly basis, our economic update gives a brief overview of the ecomomic situation of the construction equipment industry, e.g. order income, turnover, business climate and trade figures.
Monthly tracking of the market development of valve-relevant raw materials with a focus on non-ferrous metals
Incoming orders in the food processing and packaging machinery sector were down 5% in real terms in June compared to the same month last year.
Global sales of mining and processing technology remained stable at a high level in 2024, with a slight decline of 1.2% compared to 2023. Nevertheless, there were some changes within the most important supply regions.
The economic reports for 2025 on important foreign markets in the food and packaging industry, compiled exclusively for the VDMA by gtai, are now available in German and English language.
On 11 July 2025, the summer meeting of the Executive Board took place at Herrenknecht AG in Schwanau.
Process plant and equipment from Germany in demand abroad.
There are many reasons for European companies to think about diversification of supply chains, production sites and sales markets. Indonesia is increasingly coming into focus in the machinery and plant engineering sector.
Order growth in the first half of the year gives confidence
Orders from eurozone countries resulted in a slight increase in orders for mechanical engineering in the first half of the year. However, the tariff dispute with the US continued to weigh on orders in June.
In June 2025, incoming orders in the mechanical and plant engineering sector in North Rhine-Westphalia were 4% higher than in the previous year.
In June 2025, incoming orders in the Bavarian mechanical and plant engineering sector were down 18% in real terms compared to the previous year.
Following the recent positive trend in incoming orders, the decline in orders in June of 7% in real terms compared to the same month last year was a further dampener for the mechanical and plant engineering sector in Baden-Württemberg.
Demand for process engineering from Germany improves slightly, sales slump.
The EMO 2025 Economic Forum discusses developments in important customer industries
If you want to leverage real future potential for agribusiness, especially for agricultural technology, you can no longer ignore South America.
As a continent rich in raw materials with around 65 percent of the world's arable land and a very young population by global standards, Africa offers enormous business and growth potential for local industry.
Baden-Wuerttemberg's mechanical and plant engineering sector generated around EUR 47.5 billion in exports in 2024
Increased sales, growing order intake and impetus for transformation - industry on course for success
The future prospects for manufacturers of beverage machine and dairy technology are positive, as the global beverage industry is growing dynamically. The global sales volume of soft drinks will increase by 16% to 972 billion euros by 2028.
Foreign orders in mechanical engineering in Saarland show double-digit growth in May 2025. But there is hardly any improvement in sales.
The results for incoming orders in the mechanical engineering sector in Rhineland-Palatinate did not improve in May either, as they are negative across the board. There is also no improvement in turnover.
Mechanical engineering in Baden-Württemberg is the leading center of German mechanical and plant engineering.
Incoming orders in the mechanical engineering sector in Hesse continue to fluctuate greatly. In May, they fell by 12 percent after rising by 7.7 percent in April. Sales, on the other hand, are rising again.
With a monthly update, which is exclusively available to VDMA member companies for download, we inform you about the development of price indices for process engineering goods.
Important questions on this topic
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How is the economic situation of the German machinery and equipment manufacturing industry developing?
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How is the international economic situation developing with regard to machinery and equipment manufacturing?
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How is the economic situation developing in the specialist branches of the German machinery and equipment manufacturing industry?
Events
Results of the latest VDMA Business Survey Mechanical Engineering Austria with Florian Scholl. Exclusively for managing directors from the Austrian mechanical engineering industry.
In addition to the economic situation in German and international mechanical engineering, the speakers will once again present developments in selected specialist sectors. This time, construction machinery and building material plants, machine tools, robotics + automation, woodworking machinery and general ventilation technology will be represented with key presentations. The focus will be on the current situation and the prospects for 2026.
What is the current state of the mechanical engineering industry and what are the prospects for 2026? What challenges need to be overcome and what setbacks are looming? We will also give you an insight into the economic policy activities of the VDMA 2025.
Further information coming soon
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