European Machine Tool Exports Decline China Replaces US as the Biggest Market

The financial crisis has had a major impact on the machine tool industry in Europe. In 2009, orders for new machine tools fell by 60% year-on-year, and production dropped by 37% year-on-year. According to the latest statistics from the European Machine Tool Industry Cooperation Council (CECIMO), in the first quarter of 2010, CECIMO's machine tool exports still did not show any significant improvement. The cumulative value of machine tool exports by member countries was 2.285 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 27%. Among them, the value of 1.452 billion euros of machine tool products, which accounted for approximately 64% of the total export value of the machine tools, was exported to non-CECIMO countries and regions, a marked increase from 56% in the same period in 2009.

Based on the export value, China and Hong Kong remain the most important export markets for CECIMO, while the US market has shrunk. Its second place has been replaced by Russia. In the first quarter of 2010, CECIMO member countries exported machine tools with a value of 446.7 million euros to China and Hong Kong. Although they were down 12% from the same period in 2009, they still ranked first in the export market with a share of 30.8%. In second place is Russia with an export value of 133.9 million euros, and its export value has dropped by 8% year-on-year, with a market share of 9.2%. The third place is the United States, with export volume of 131 million euros, a year-on-year decline of 32% and a market share of 9.0%. The fourth India, the export value of 93.7 million euros, down 1% year on year, the market share of 6.5%. The fifth South Korean export was 70.8 million euros, a 13% drop from the same period last year. In the top eight markets, only Brazil, ranked seventh, had an increase of 34% to 62.8 million euros, with a market share of 4.3%.

Since the fourth quarter of 2009, orders for the European machine tool industry have increased by a certain margin. In the first quarter of 2010, European machine tool orders increased by 32% compared to the same period in 2009. However, due to factors such as the order model and the long delivery time of the machine tool, it is expected that the European machine tool will not have significant growth until 2011 in terms of output and export.