German machine tool production stood at the “high level” of 6.5 billion euros for the first six months of the year, according to the latest figures from the German Machine Tool Builders’ Association (VDW).

Wilfried Schäfer, executive director of the VDW, said that “chances for growth are looking quite good,” despite confirming that his association’s 3% forecast for 2014 production output “is appearing increasingly over-optimistic”.

Nonetheless, the VDW “definitely sees grounds for optimism. For the year’s second half, we are expecting a reversal of roles between domestic and foreign demand”.

Domestic orders rose by 18% in the first half, while export orders were “slightly down” at -1%.

Dr Schäfer said that “German business with Asia is also faltering: potent markets like China, South Korea and Thailand ordered fewer machine tools from Germany during the year’s first half than last year. Nonetheless, the VDW continues to have high hopes of China, which is the biggest market for German machine tools.

“It’s true that the high double-figure growth rates in machine tool consumption and imports are probably a thing of the past. However, Chinese companies need high-quality production technology for the quality enhancement thrust that their politicians are demanding. For German manufacturers to benefit from this, they have to ‘stay on the ball’ and purposefully upgrade and expand their presence on this market.”