World Exports of Machinery: Preliminary Results for 2024

Positive performances for most sectors, but with (very) differentiated intensity

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Industrial equipment Uncertainty Export Conjuncture Global economic trends
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The preliminary estimates for Q4 2024 of global trade, available in the ExportPlanning Information System, allow for an assessment of the preliminary 2024 results of global exports of instrumental mechanics1.

After a decline in 2023 in constant price measurement2 (-1.3%) and a slight recovery in H1 2024 (+2.6% year-on-year, in constant prices), the second half of last year showed a general acceleration in global exports of machinery and industrial equipment (+8.1% year-on-year in constant price measurement).

The overall result at the end of 2024 shows an average annual increase of +5.4% compared to 2023 (constant prices), thus allowing a full recovery of the previous year's decline.

Recovery performance in global sales
across most sectors of the Machinery industry

The table below, which reports the performance of world exports of Machinery by sector, further highlights that, at the end of 2024, most sectors showed positive signs.

World Exports of Machinery by sectors:
Year-over-Year changes at constant prices

Y-o-Y percentage variations at constant prices
Year 2023 H1-2024 Q3-2024 Q4-2024 Jan-Dec 2024
Paper-making Machinery - 1.2 - 5.9 -10.4 - 6.5 - 7.2
Semiconductor Machinery - 9.8 + 8.6 +11.7 +18.5 +12.1
Metal Processing Machinery + 8.1 + 3.0 - 4.5 + 6.8 + 2.3
Metal Cutting Tools + 7.2 - 3.8 - 4.9 - 7.8 - 5.2
Machine Tools for hard materials - 8.1 + 4.4 + 5.4 + 6.1 + 5.1
Extrusion Machinery + 3.4 + 3.9 +10.0 +13.3 + 7.9
Textile Machinery - 9.7 - 2.8 + 4.7 +11.3 + 2.5
Food Machinery + 2.1 + 1.9 + 3.5 +10.1 + 4.4
Packaging Machinery + 9.1 + 0.9 +11.5 +10.6 + 6.1
Printing Machinery + 8.1 - 3.6 + 7.6 + 9.3 + 2.3
Other special purpose Machinery - 2.4 + 5.4 +15.3 +13.2 + 9.9
TOTAL - 1.3 + 2.6 + 7.0 + 9.1 + 5.4
Source: ExportPlanning - Data - Quarterly Trade Data, World Trade DataMart

Analyzing the preliminary 2024 data on global sales by instrumental mechanics sectors, the following results emerge:

  • strong acceleration and well into positive territory for the following sectors:
    • semiconductor manufacturing machines3: thanks to double-digit growth in the second half of the year (+15.2% Year-over-Year in constant price measurement), global exports in this sector closed 2024 with an estimated Y-o-Y increase of over 12 percentage points (more than offsetting the decline recorded in the 2023 average [-9.8%]);
    • extrusion machinery4: after a moderate increase in 2023 (+3.4% Y-o-Y in constant prices) and the first half of 2024 (+3.9% Y-o-Y), the second half of last year showed significant acceleration in global exports (+11.7% year-over-year in constant prices), leading to an overall annual increase of about 8 percentage points in constant price measurement;
    • packaging machinery5: after a slightly positive first half of last year (+0.9% Year-over-Year in constant prices), the second half of 2024 saw significant acceleration in global exports (+11% Y-o-Y in constant prices), resulting in a strong positive outcome at the end of the year (+6.1% Y-o-Y in constant prices), repeating the previous year's performance;
    • food machinery6: thanks to a significant strengthening of growth in the last quarter of last year (+10.1% Year-over-Year in constant prices), global exports in this sector managed to close 2024 with an Y-o-Y increase of 4.4 percentage points in constant price measurement, outperforming the already positive 2023 result;
    • metal processing machinery7: in this case as well, acceleration in the fourth quarter of last year (+6.8% Year-over-Year in constant prices) allowed global exports in the sector to close 2024 in positive territory (+2.3% Y-o-Y in constant price measurement), confirming the "plus" sign already recorded in the 2023 average;
    • printing and publishing machinery8: after a declining first half (-3.6% Year-over-Year in constant prices), the progressive strengthening of growth in the second half of last year (+8.4% Y-o-Y in constant prices) allowed global exports in the sector to close 2024 with an Y-o-Y increase of over 2 percentage points in constant price measurement, confirming the "plus" sign already recorded in the 2023 average;
    • other special-purpose machinery9: thanks to significant growth acceleration in the second half of last year (+14.2% Year-over-Year in constant prices), global exports in the sector managed to close 2024 with an Y-o-Y increase of about 10 percentage points in constant price measurement, fully recovering the loss suffered in the 2023 average;
  • improving but not enough to offset the 2023 decline for the following sectors:
    • machine tools for hard materials10: despite moderate improvement in the second half of last year (+5.8% Year-over-Year in constant prices), the final 2024 result for global exports in the sector (+5.1% Y-o-Y in constant prices) was insufficient to fully offset the previous year's decline (-8.1%);
    • textile machinery11: thanks to a particularly strong fourth quarter in 2024 (+11.3% Year-over-Year in constant prices), global exports in the sector closed the year with moderate overall growth (+2.5% Y-o-Y in constant prices), which, however, was not enough to offset the decline recorded in the 2023 average (-9.7% in constant prices);
  • still in negative territory are the following sectors:
    • machine tools for metals12: due to a second half still in negative territory (-6.5% Year-over-Year in constant prices), following a -3.8% Y-o-Y decline in the first half, 2024 saw global exports in the sector decline by over 5 percentage points on average in constant price measurement, at least partially nullifying the growth recorded in 2023 (+7.2% in constant prices);
    • paper machinery13: the Year-over-Year decline of over 8 percentage points (in constant prices) in the second half of 2024 led global exports in the sector to contract by over 7 percentage points at the end of the year (Y-o-Y change in constant prices), further deepening the decline already seen in the previous year (-1.2% in constant prices).

The importance of monitoring market conditions
at a "product-specific" level

The most recent dynamics highlight an overall improving context for global exports of machinery.
However, the high heterogeneity of the results at a sector level suggests to an exporting company the strategic utility of continuous monitoring of market conditions, in terms of demand and dynamics of the main competitors for the strategic business area of reference, in order to allow it to best support its international positioning.

With the aim of allowing constant monitoring of foreign markets of reference at a "product-specific" level, ExportPlanning provides Market Insights, a new series of information services aimed at specifically supporting the market intelligence and budgeting processes of exporting companies.

1) See the list of sectors considered in the related industry description.
2) The measure Quantities at constant prices (Q) includes a deflation operation, in which the historical series of monetary values (V) has been transformed into an analogous series of values expressed at constant prices, with a reference to a given year, known as the base year. For a description of the methodology applied, please refer to Methodological Note on the Quarterly World Trade Datamart.
3) See the related sector description.
4) See the related sector description.
5) See the related sector description.
6) See the relevant sector description.
7) See the relevant sector description.
8) See the relevant sector description.
9) See the relevant sector description.
10) See the relevant sector description.
11) See the relevant sector description.
12) See the relevant sector description.
13) See the relevant sector description.