HOW DOES THE GERMAN PACKAGING INDUSTRY FACE UP TO THE CHALLENGES OF 2020? Vera Fritsche, Advisor at the VDMA Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association, tells Elisabeth Skoda about the challenges and opportunities for the German packaging machinery industry in 2020, looking at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and beyond. We also gain insights from two German machinery companies to see how they have been faring in 2020.
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Vera Fritsche
he German packaging machinery industry exports its machines and equipment to more than 100 countries worldwide, generating more than 80% of its turnover abroad. In 2019, German manufacturers exported machinery and equipment worth €5,986 million, an increase of 2.3% over the previous year. Of these exports, half went to Europe (2019: €2,993 million, up 4%), 23% to Asia (2019: €1,354 million, up 16%) and 15% to North America (2019: €886 million, up 8%). The coronavirus pandemic poses major challenges for companies. Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, there were massive interruptions in the supply chains. Parts and components that had been ordered from China, for example, could no longer be delivered. In addition, there were also delivery failures from Italy, Austria and within Germany. This led to significant disruptions in the operating process, disruptions in production and in some cases even to production downtime. The disruptions in the supply chains have now decreased, but the order situation is still tense. At the beginning of the pandemic, for example, companies not only booked fewer orders from Europe, but also from Asia and North and Latin America. The decline in orders was particularly sharp in May. As a result, companies were able to book almost a quarter fewer orders than in the same month last year. Orders from euro partner countries fell by more than half and those from non-euro countries by 10%. The situation eased slightly in June and July. In July, however, an otherwise strong month for orders, 6% fewer orders were received than in the same month last year. The VDMA’s 7th Corona Flash Survey of July 2020 shows that almost 80% of companies surveyed in the food processing and packaging machinery sector are reporting noticeable to serious declines in incoming orders. Border closures and quarantine measures continue to prevent companies from sending fitters and technicians to their foreign customers, which Packaging Europe | 53 |
