German industry expects to increase its production by 8% this year

Hanover / Berlin - News agencies: German industry expects a gradual recovery this year, following the significant decline in production last year.

The President of the Federation of German Industries, Siegfried Rosworm, said yesterday at the start of the digitally held Hanover Industrial Fair that industrial production is expected to increase this year by 8% compared to last year.

Rosform said many companies had already received more orders than in the year of the crisis

He explained that the extended lockdown has consequences in many areas for the economy as a whole. According to the union's updated projections, economic output is likely to rise 3% in 2021 - a drop of half a percentage point than previously expected. The union linked this prediction to the condition "a broad reduction of restrictions related to the pandemic by early autumn," and that there are no new restrictions on manufacturing industries.

"The decisive factor in achieving growth is for Germany to become more flexible and expedite the vaccination campaign with the help of general practitioners and the company's doctors," Rosworm said.

The German Machinery Industry Federation expects to increase production volumes by up to 7% in 2021 - taking into account the price development, said Federation President Karl Heisgen. “We have decided to increase our expectations by about 3 percentage points,” he said. It is good news ».

On the other hand, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) yesterday raised its forecast for export growth this year to 8.5 percent from 6 percent, citing an increase in demand from the United States and China.

However, at the same time, the Union reduced its forecast for the growth of the German economy to 3 percent from 3.5 percent, in light of the general isolation measures currently in force in the largest economy in Europe.

The union stated that its expectation assumes that the measures imposed to curb the spread of the new Corona virus will be greatly lifted by the beginning of the fall and that the operations of the manufacturing sector will not witness any restrictions again.

On the other hand, the German Federal Statistical Office announced that large factories in Germany often use robots to carry out production or service tasks.

Yesterday, on the occasion of the opening of the Hanover Industrial Fair, the office said that 19 percent of the large factories last year used this type of technology. In general, 6% of the factories in Germany rely heavily on robots.

Since the last survey in 2018, the use of robots in the industry has increased again by 3 percentage points. In addition, the size of the plant clearly defines the extent of the use of robots, as data showed that 31% of factories with more than 250 workers rely on robots. The percentage does not exceed 3% among small factories, whose number ranges between 10 and 49 workers.

According to Census Bureau data, robots are used in factories, for example in welding, laser or coating work. Service robots are used, among other things, for monitoring, transportation or cleaning.

3D printers are also found more commonly in large factories, where they are mainly used to produce prototypes and models for indoor use.