According to Cecimo (European association of the machine tool industries), the machine tool consumption is expected to grow this year, continuing the trend of 2014. “After two years of contraction and flat trend – said the association – the European economy showed again a positive economic growth in 2014. The improving economic climate has an impact on the European machine tool industry’s results. The European machine tool production increased from 22.7 billion euro in 2013 to 22.9 billion euro in 2014. We estimate that the cautiously positive mood will continue this year and the European machine tool production will increase of another 3%. The Cecimo countries exported machine tools in 2014 for a value of 18.2 billion euro, which is marginally less than in 2013. This can be explained by the slowdown of economic growth in the emerging markets. On the other hand, the changes of consumption pattern in those countries and the improving growth outlook in developed markets forecast a growth in our exports this year”.
The increasing business confidence supports an investment recovery in the main machine tool consumer sectors. The European machine tool consumption grew 7% to 13.5 billion euro in 2014. Taking into account the positive trend in industrial capacity utilization, European manufactures will look for possibilities to expand their production lines. Therefore Cecimo forecasts that the machine tool demand will continue to grow in 2015. The European machine tool imports are mainly driven by the European machine tool consumption. After a decline in 2013, the machine tool imports to Cecimo countries increased to 8.9 billion euro in 2014. The weak euro, making imported goods relatively more expensive, will also influence those flows this year.
