German machine tool industry increased for the first time in five quarters

Overall, orders were up, by 12 per cent, compared to the preceding year's equivalent period. Domestic orders were down by 16 per cent, but export orders rose 38 per cent, according to the VDW (the German Machine Tool Builders' Association). Growth is being driven by demand from abroad, particularly from China, and by project business, for both forming and machining technology. Due to the German machine tool sector's key position, in the context of industrial production capabilities, its development is an important indicator for the economic dynamism of the industrial sector, as a whole. In 2009, as a whole, German machine tool manufacturers employed just under 70,000 people, in companies with more than 20 employees, and produced machinery and services worth 9.9 billion euros, corresponding to a fall in production output of 30 per cent, following a historic high in 2008. The domestic market fell by 61 per cent, with exports down by 50 per cent.