Among the member associations of the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers (CEMATEX), the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) Textile Machinery Association is by far the biggest.
Around 120 of the most important manufacturers of textile machinery and accessories from all sectors of the trade are affiliated within VDMA. The largest portion of the companies comprises medium-sized companies, which represent approximately 90 percent of the entire sector volume. In 2012, the branch exported textile machinery worth about 3.1 billion euros. It seems that 2013 will be an even better year for the German manufacturers.
Different Success Rates For Different Sectors
Exports, as everywhere in Europe, are playing a major role for the success of a textile machinery association. VDMA is running representative offices in Brazil, China and India, to be close to the customers in major South American and Asian markets. The offices serve as hubs between German and Brazilian, Chinese and Indian companies and associations as well as authorities.
During a recent visit to Frankfurt, the Rupp Report had the opportunity to talk to Nicolai Strauch, public relations officer for VDMA's Textile Machinery Association, about facts and figures pertaining to its members. He gave detailed information for the period of January through July 2013:
For spinning machines, compared to an export volume of 781.359 million euros in the same period of 2012, the current period in 2013 netted 821.575 million euros. A slightly negative development is shown with weaving machines: here, last year's volume was 123.500 million euros, and for 2013, it dropped to 116.721 million euros from January through July.
However, for knitting machines, VDMA reports a slight increase: compared to 452.610 million euros in 2012, the first seven months in 2013 record a volume of 471.371 million euros. The finishing machinery sector recorded the sharpest drop in volume: from 473.174 million euros in 2012 to 406.735 million euros in the same period in 2013.
Sharp Slowdown In China
The somewhat negative picture — which, in fact, is a positive — is mainly caused by the declining business in China. The following interesting table shows the development of German textile machinery exports to the most important countries over a period from January to July for 2012 and 2013:
Turkey, India, the United States and Saudi Arabia show higher export volumes, with an overall big jump in 2013. From January through July 2013, German textile machinery and accessories worth 1.8 billion euros have been exported.
Taking a closer look at the major destinations shows that China weakened in the first half of this year. Shipping of German textile machinery and accessories to China decreased by 11 percent year-on-year and reached approximately 552 million Euros. The exports to Turkey, a market that already performed very well in 2012, increased again — by 14 percent to approximately 231 million euros.
India Is Back
But also the Indian textile industry strikes back: After two weak years, the sector invested much more during the first half of 2013, which resulted in German deliveries worth 136 million euros — an increase of nearly 23 percent. And a former established textile nation is celebrating a kind of comeback: the United States. The Rupp Report has already informed its readers about the comeback of the U.S. textile industry some months ago (See " The Rupp Report: Astonishing Investment Climate In The U.S.," TextileWorld.com, May 14, 2013). While the overall German textile machinery exports to the U.S. — worth more than 111 million euros in the 2013 period — is just a small increase, the shipping of spinning machinery nearly doubled year-on-year.
Positive Outlook
Strauch added that the latest incoming orders figures for the German textile machinery industry increased by an encouraging 18 percent between January and August 2013 compared to the respective period in 2012. "The high expectations of the VDMA member companies towards the export performance indicate good business for the next months," he said. And to end an interesting meeting positively, he commented, "Regarding the good performance in this year, the VDMA sales forecast of an increase of some 5 percent for 2013 proved to be realistic." That is a promise for the future.
