Tool sales surge 10% in the first half, but ongoing concerns squelch optimism.
Wolfgang Sengebusch, head of the precision tools division at the German engineering federation VDMA, said sector production will grow the expected 7% to a record of around €11 billion this year from €10.2 billion in 2011 despite a growth estimate of only 2% for the entire German mechanical engineering industry.
At a press conference at the AMB metalworking show in Stuttgart, Germany, Sengebusch said German precision tool sales in the first half of this year rose 10%, and orders were well above the level recorded in the year-earlier period.
Sengebusch told ETMM the prediction for the year could be revised following talks with companies at the show. He declined to make a prediction for 2013, noting that because the precision tools sector is so narrow, it is hard for strength in one specific business to balance out weakness in another. The VDMA recently estimated German mechanical engineering production will rise 2% in 2013.
He noted that the German precision tool industry, which includes the country’s tool and mould makers, is the sixth-largest sector based on sales within the VDMA.
Sourced from etmm-online.com
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