Slowdown in EU Machinery Exports in Q2 2022

Having almost halved the pace of growth recorded in Q1 of the year (after the slowdown in Q4-2021), some sectors already show cumulative negative trend changes

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Slowdown Europe Industrial equipment Conjuncture Export Uncertainty Global economic trends

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EU countries' foreign trade data for the second quarter of 2022, available on ExportPlanning (EU Trade Datamart), document the slowdown in progress in European sales of Machinery.
In the most recent quarter, the EU exports of this industry, while still maintaining a trend growth in the values denominated in euro (+ 2.3%), confirms the deceleration already seen in the previous quarter (from +6.4% trend in the last quarter of 2021 to +3.9% in the first quarter of 2022).


The slowdown appears particularly significant when compared to the average results of 2021, when EU exports of machinery and plants for industry had recorded an average annual growth of + 13.4% in values in euros.

Penalties in the first half of the year especially from the markets of South Korea, Russia, China, Ukraine and Belarus...

In the first six months of the year, the negative performance of European sales of Machinery aimed at South Korea (-730 million euros compared to the first half of 2021), Russia (-696 million €, equal to -38.9 per cent), China (-182 mln €), Ukraine (-167 million €, equal to -60.1 percent) and Belarus (-95 million €, equal to -55.9 for cent).
If in the cases of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus the falls are attributable to the ongoing war, in the cases of South Korea and China the reduction in European sales of machinery and plants for industry is, in the first case, attributable to the fall in sales of semiconductor manufacturing machines (-651 million euros compared to the first half of 2021, equal to -25.4 percent year-on-year) and, in the second case, a rather general decline at sector level (with the greatest negative contributions from the food machinery and textile machinery sectors).

EU Machinery Exports: Driving and Braking Markets in 1st Half 2022

Source: ExportPlanning-EU Datamart

..against the significantly positive performance
of the United States, Italy and Japan

On the other hand, we note the particularly positive trend dynamics of EU exports of Machinery aimed at United States (+606 million euros compared to the first half of 2021), Italy, Japan, Taiwan and Mexico the markets driving European sales of Machinery in the first half of the year.
The trend growth in EU sales aimed at the Italian market is particularly significant (+41.1%, corresponding to over 547 million euros more than in the first half of 2021), as well as that towards the Japanese market (+44.2% compared to the first half of 2021, for a value of approximately 280 million euros).

Negative trends in the 1st half of the year for EU exports in euro values of food machinery, packaging machinery
and paper machines...

While involving all the sectors that make up this industry, the slowdown appears particularly significant for the paper machinery sectors, which in the first quarter of the year shows a trend decline close to 10 percentage points (significantly down from + 13.2% of the 2021 average), food machinery and ( dropped from + 10% in 2021 to -4.9% trend in the first half of 2022) and packaging machinery (from +4.3% of 2021 average at -4.4% in the first half of the year).

Source: ExportPlanning-EU Datamart

The paper machinery1 sector is heavily penalized by the drop in sales aimed at Russia, Turkey, China, United States and Japan. Not only the Russian market recorded strong penalties (-73.2 per cent compared to the first half of 2021 in values in euros), but also the Turkish market (-47.6 per cent) and the Japanese one (-75.6 per cent).

The food machinery2 sector was heavily affected by the embargo on EU sales to the Russian market, down by 348 million euros in trend terms (equal to -56 per cent), and - given the difficulties of the ongoing conflict - towards the Ukrainian market (-56.7 per cent, for a value of approximately 42 million euros). To this must be added the negative performance of European exports in the sector to United States (-101 million euros in trend terms, equal to -9.6 per cent), the already cited China (-90 million €, equal to 17.3 percent) and Vietnam (even -64 percent, for a value of approximately 45 million euros).

The packaging machinery sector, another sector in trend decline3, was also affected by the effects of the EU embargo towards the Russian market, down by about 72 million euros (equal to -39.4 percent), to which were added the falls in European sales of the sector on the United States (-62.1 million euros), Brazil (-53.9 million €), Poland (-51.8 million €) and Saudi Arabia (-40.1 million €).

.. and strong slowdowns also for EU exports
semiconductor manufacturing machines...

Another sector particularly affected by the slowdown in European sales of industrial machinery and plants is that of semiconductor manufacturing machines, which went from record growth rates on average in 2021 (+ 33.3% annual average in euro values) to + 6.3% trend in the first half of the year.
Penalized by the South Korean market - as mentioned above - down by 651 million euros compared to the first half of 2021), European sales in the sector found support from the markets of United States (+351 million €), Taiwan (+231 million €), Japan (+214 million €), China (+159 million €) and Italy (+120 mln €).

..and widespread decelerations for metalworking machines, machine tools and extrusion machines

The machine tools for hard materials, metalworking machines , machine tools for metals and extrusion machines sectors all show a deceleration in the pace of growth, which - albeit remaining in positive territory - loses between 5 and 10 percentage points in euro values compared to the average annual rate of EU exports in 2021.

In particular, the European sales of:
  • machine tools for hard materials, significantly slowing down - from +16.6 on the 2021 average to +7 percent in the first half of 2022 - found support, in the face of the downturns in the Egyptian market (-70.6 million euros compared to the first half of 2021, equal to -93.2 per cent) and Chinese market (-39.3 million €), from the markets of United States (+53.4 million euros compared to first half of 2021), Brazil (+48.4 million €), United Kingdom (+35.2 million €) and India (+ € 26.6 million);
  • metalworking machinery (slowing from +12.6 on the 2021 average to +5.6 per cent in the first half of 2022), penalized by the downturns in the Chinese market (-44.9 million euros compared to the corresponding half-year 2021) and Russian market (-20.1 million €), found support from the United States (+28.6 million euros compared to the first half of 2021), Poland (+25.1 million €) and Italy (+ € 21.5 million);
  • machine tools for metals, which experienced a halving of growth - from +12.2 in the 2021 average to +6 per cent in the first half of 2022 - found support, in the face of the fall in Russian market (-102 million euros, equal to -54.2 per cent), from Italy (+126.5 million euros compared to the first half of 2021, equal to +34.6 percent tendentially), France (+75 million €), Switzerland (+ € 46.3 million) and Japan (+ € 32.6 million);
  • extrusion machines (slowing down from +9.9 on the 2021 average to +4.4 per cent in the first half of 2022) found support from the Italy (+62.6 million euros compared to the first half of 2021), India (+35.2 million €) and Turkey (+33.1 million €), against the reductions in sales aimed at France (-33.7 million €), Romania (-20.4 million €), Poland (-18.5 million €), Ukraine (-14.3 million €) and Hungary (-13.4 million €).

Although slowing down, the textile machinery sector continues to show double-digit growth rates

Among the machinery and plant sectors for industry that show the best performance in the first half of 2022, the textile machinery sector stands out , which in the first six months of the year recorded a tendential growth in EU exports equal to +12.2 per cent in values ​​in euro (although also a significant slowdown compared to 2021, when, on average for the year, the sector had shown an increase +25.5 percent).

The expansion performance on the India (+122 million euros, equal to +79.4 percent trend), Bangladesh (+72 million €, equal to +114 percent compared to the first half of 2021), United States (+ € 71 million), Uzbekistan (+ € 46 million, thanks to a + 86.6 percent trend) and Turkey (+38 million €).

1) However, the positive bucking performance of European sales of paper machinery aimed at the Italian market should be highlighted, which records a trend growth of over 50 million euros (+128.1 percent compared to the first half of 2021).
2) On the other hand, it should be noted the positive performance of European sales of food machinery aimed at the British market, which recorded a trend growth of over 78 million euros (+31.4 percent compared to the first half of 2021).
3) On the other hand, there was a positive performance of European sales of packaging machines aimed at the Chinese market, which recorded in the first half of the year, a trend growth of over 73 million euros (equal to +21.2 percent compared to the first half of 2021).
4) On the other hand, as mentioned, we note the negative performance of European sales of textile machines aimed at the Chinese market, which marks in the first semester of the year a tendential decline of approximately 86 million euro, equal to -14.5 per cent in euro.