China overhauls Germany to become world’s top machinery exporter
- Chinese exports topped US$195 billion and report from German Engineering Federation said the country’s faster recovery from Covid-19 helped it take top spot
- European firms urged to improve competitiveness but says there are opportunities in China’s need to catch up in sectors such as industrial robotics
China overtook Germany to become the world’s top exporter in the machinery and equipment sector last year, according to an industrial association.
Machinery exports from China reached €165 billion, (US$195 billion) around 15.8 per cent of the total foreign trade volume, according to an initial estimate by the German Engineering Federation, compared with German exports of €162 billion.
The federation said this was largely down to China’s faster recovery from the economic impact of Covid-19 and warned that German and other European businesses needed to improve their competitiveness to meet the challenge.
“The pandemic in particular gave China’s rise a strong boost because the country was hit very early and only very briefly, while the European sales market suffered a strong damper as a result of the pandemic,” Ulrich Ackermann, the director of the federation’s foreign trade department said.
He said a strong economic recovery in the EU could ensure that German and other European countries grow more strongly again this year, “but the long-term trend clearly favours China”.
China is striving for technological supremacy in various industrial fields by 2035, with various programmes in place to overhaul its manufacturing sector and promote innovation.