In the past few months, the shortage of materials in the electronics and steel industry has also given machine manufacturers a headache. For the first half of the year, however, there is a strong increase in exports.
The global economic recovery is giving German mechanical engineering companies a strong boost. In the first half of 2021, exports were 11.2 percent above the level of the same period of the previous year.
Compared to the peak of the Corona crisis in the second quarter of 2020, exports even rose by 23.5 percent to 44.5 billion euros in the period from April to June 2021, as the mechanical engineering association VDMA reported on Wednesday with a view to the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office.
“The strong comeback of machine exports to almost all regions of the world is very gratifying,” said VDMA economic expert Olaf Wortmann. However, this should not hide the fact that the further upswing in the industry will be made significantly more difficult due to a lack of materials. The main problem is the supply of preliminary products from the electronics and steel industries.
In addition, there would be logistics bottlenecks due to temporary partial closings of ports in China after individual corona cases among port employees. This ensures increased delivery times and an increase in freight costs. “The freight rates between China and Europe have already increased more than sixfold in the year to date,” said Wortmann.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
