International projects hold up machine tool order levels

By Staff Report May 22, 2025 2:03 pm IST

China and the US switched places again in the rankings of the top machine tool customers in the first quarter.

Orders received by the German machine tool industry in the first quarter of 2025 were 10 percent down on the same period last year. Domestic orders fell by 30 percent, while orders from abroad remained at the previous year’s level.

“After a generally weak start to the year, March brought a small ray of hope,” explains Dr. Markus Heering, Executive Director of the VDW (German Machine Tool Builders’ Association) in Frankfurt am Main. “Orders increased by 2 percent – an initial positive signal that is primarily due to demand from abroad, particularly from the eurozone. By contrast, the German domestic market continues to fall well short of expectations,” continues Heering.

Europe remained the top sales market for the German machine tool industry in the first quarter. Demand from many key countries increased noticeably. Overall, the region grew by almost a third, albeit at a low level.

The downward trend in Asia also ended in the first quarter. Increasing by 6 percent, the region saw positive growth again for the first time. It is particularly gratifying that China recorded slight growth again after a long hiatus. China thus replaced the US as the most important single market.

On the American continent, positive impetus came mainly from projects in Mexico. Orders from the US, on the other hand, fell by a tenth. “Nothing has changed, however: US industry requires German manufacturing technology to modernize—there are not enough suitable domestic suppliers,” Heering emphasises.

According to an economic survey of machine tool and component manufacturers conducted in the first quarter of 2025, medical technology and aviation have the strongest demand among the top customer industries. There are also signs of recovery in the engineering sector as a whole, with encouraging growth in the first quarter of this year. The automotive industry remains the biggest worry.

“It’s too soon to speak of a trend reversal, especially in the face of increased international uncertainty due to the erratic tariff policy of the US administration,” concludes Heering. The sector sees this, along with export controls and high costs, as the biggest obstacle to a turnaround.