Orders received by the German machine tool industry in the first quarter of 2017 were 6% up on the previous year; domestic demand rose by 2%, while overseas orders grew by 8%.

Wilfried Schäfer, executive director of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association) in Frankfurt, said: “Orders received by the German machine tool industry were stronger than expected, with a particularly high demand from European countries — a 23% increase in orders in the first quarter, compared with the same period last year.

“Furthermore, the increase in demand from the key Chinese market is now more broadly based. Orders last year rose by more than 20%, primarily due to large international automotive-industry projects in China. This strong demand continued in the first quarter of 2017.

“There was a 13% increase in orders for metal-forming machines, this rise in demand coming from both home and abroad. However, machining-equipment orders, which represent about 70% of the total, only rose by 3%.

“The main source of growth here was foreign markets, which posted an increase of 6%; in contrast, domestic demand fell by 4%.”