UK machine tool exports show growth

The figures have been released by the Manufacturing Technologies Association which represents UK-based machine tool makers and machine tool importers. However, due to a weak start to the year, the cumulative export total for the first nine months is only 0.5 per cent higher than for the same period last year, at £347.3 million. This growth has come from Europe with exports to the EU up by 18.7 per cent on the first three quarters of 2006; exports to the rest of the world have fallen, although this is not true of every country with an increase being recorded for India, South Korea and Canada (among others). Imports of machine tools into the UK in Q3 2007 were valued at £136.2 million, an increase of 7.4 per cent on Q2 of the year, but 0.6 per cent lower than in the same quarter of 2006. The cumulative total for the first nine months of the year is £411.5 million, an increase of 12.6 per cent on the same months during 2006; however, there was a high value import of CNC presses from Germany worth around £30 million in the first half of the year, which accounts for a large part of the increase. As with the exports, it is Europe which is leading the growth in imports of machine tools, although this is affected by the one-off business noted earlier; however, there was also an increase in the value of imports from Taiwan and South Korea, although arrivals from Japan and China fell slightly. “Many of the customer sectors supplied by MTA members have been busy this year and their demand is being driven by exports to Europe, so the increase we have seen is a reflection of this trend in the machine tool business," said MTA statistician Geoff Noon. "It looks as though our forecast for exports will prove to have been too cautious, although there are a number of uncertainties in economies across the world at the moment which makes any sort of prediction difficult.”