Contribution of German Machinery in the World of Textiles

The economy of Germany is a highly developed social market economy. It has the largest national economy in Europe, the fourth-largest by nominal GDP in the world, and fifth by GDP (PPP). Germany is a founding member of the European Union and the Eurozone. Germany recorded the highest trade surplus in the world, making it the biggest capital exporter globally. Exports account for 41% of national output. The top 10 exports of Germany are vehicles, machinery, chemical goods, electronic products, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals machinery, transport, basic metals, food products and plastics.

The German mechanical engineering industry plays a prominent role in developing and realizing sustainable solutions, such as effective solutions for new energy concepts and effective handling of scarce resources.

The VDMA, The German Textile Machinery Association, has assumed patronage of the Blue Competence sustainability initiative, which aims to interconnect all of Germany’s mechanical engineering industry. The VDMA accompanies digitalization efforts of its members with numerous strategic and practical initiatives, studies and guidelines.

Today, textile machinery engineering is one of the important branches of engineering and plant construction in Germany. Textile machinery is used by more than 150 countries all over the world.

About 120 of the most important manufacturers of textile machinery and accessories from all sectors of the trade are affiliated with the VDMA Textile Machinery Association. The largest parts of the companies are medium-sized firms and stand for approximately 90% of the entire sector volume and produced textile machinery and accessories. In 2022, the branch produced 3.2 billion Euros worth of textile machinery in 2022, showing an increase of 200 million Euros compared to last year’s 3 billion Euros worth of production. The Germans exported textile machinery worth about 2.8 billion Euros worldwide in 2022 recording an increase of 100 million Euros from last year’s numbers of 2.7 billion Euros.

German textile machines are exported all over the world with their major clients being China, India, Turkey, USA, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

In 2022, German exports for its machinery showed a tremendous growth in some countries like Uzbekistan and India, however some countries also showed a noticeable decline like China and Brazil.

Exports of German Textile Machinery

The German manufacturers exported machinery worth of 707 million Euros to China in 2022, compared to last year 822 million Euros, recording a decline of 16% in YoY basis.

The exports for the machinery reached 351 million Euros for India in

2022, compared to last year 188 million Euros worth of exports, recording a increase of 46% in YoY basis.

The country recorded a substantial growth of in demand of the machineries from Bangladesh and Uzbekistan, The Bangladesh imported 87 million Euros while the Uzbekistan imported 84 million Euros worth of machinery from Germany in 2022 showing an incredible increase of 60% when compared to last year’s import of 35 million Euros and 34 million Euros respectively on YoY basis.

The German manufacturers exported machinery worth of 79 million Euros to Italy in 2022, compared to last year 111 million million Euros, recording a decline of 41% in YoY basis.

To Mexico, Germany exported 36 million Euros worth of machinery in 2022, compared to last year’s export of 38 million Euros, showing a minor decline of 6%.

The Brazil market showed the most devastating decline of 62% for German machinery in 2022 with 27 million Euros worth of exports compared to last year 71 million Euros.

Exports of Textile Machinery to Pakistan

Pakistan has always shown a keen interest in German machineries whether its automobile sector, textile sector or any other sector.

The textile sector of Pakistan has always shared a very good relation with German textile manufacturers. Pakistan textile sector has always shown satisfaction with German textile machinery and its advancement with time to time.

Last year Pakistan textile industry showed a significant interest in German’s textile spinning machinery with exports worth of 34,127,000 Euros just came from the spinning machines sector.

However in 2022, the need of German spinning machinery exports recorded a decline with exports of Euros 26 Million, compared to last year’s 34 million Euros, but spinning machineries still represented a majority share of the total German textile machinery export value to Pakistan.

In 2022, the demand for German machines for washing grew significantly with exports of up to 16 million Euros,

German Textile machinery exports to Pakistan

compared to last year’s export of 12 Million Euros worth of exports, showing an increase of demand by 24%.

Demand for German Card Clothing used in preparation of textile fibres also showed an increase of 22% in demand with exports increasing to 8.3 million Euros in 2022, compared to last year’s export of 6.4 million Euros.

The demand of German drying machines and combing machines also increased in 2022, exports worth of 6.5 million Euros and 3.7 million Euros were made in 2022 compared to 4.9 million Euros and 1.8 million Euros last year, showing an increase of 25% and 22% respectively.

The demand of drawing or roving machines showed a decline with 2.7 million Euros worth of exports in 2022, compared to last year exports of 4 million Euros, a decline of 47% was recorded for this sector.

The demand for replacement parts and accessories accessories remained the same for the 2022, exports of 2.5 million Euros were made, compared to last year exports of 2.4 million Euros, a very minor incline in the demands were recorded.

The German machines for extruding man-made textiles recorded a positive incline of 40%, exports worth of 2.3 million Euros were made in 2022, compared to last year’s 1.4 million Euros worth of exports.

The Pakistani Textile Industry showed interest in Calendering or rolling machines, exports of which showed an increase of 100% to 1.8 million Euros in 2022.

Future Prospects

The general conditions for the textile machinery industry and for mechanical engineering as a whole are characterized by great uncertainty. Internationally, protectionism continues to increase and a final settlement of the U.S.-Chinese trade conflict is not expected to be resolved in the near future.

The economic decline has continued in 2022. A drastic market revival is not yet foreseeable. At the same time, digitalization continues to progress. It is a challenge for existing processes and traditional structures, but at the same time opens up opportunities for new services and business models.

Industry 4.0 sector, and energyefficient technology extending from spinning to finishing – German Textile Machinery Association VDMA is playing a major role in the global textile apparel manufacturing industry.

VDMA’s goal is to increase the competitiveness and innovativeness of its members and to secure the future viability of the textile machinery industry. For this reason, the economic and technical representation of the industry’s interests, networking and exchange of experience as well as professional services are the focus of its work.