Germany on upswing

Regina Brückner elected head of VDMA
With the election of Regina Brückner, Managing Associate of Brückner Trockentechnik, for the first time in its long history the VDMA Textile Machinery Association will be chaired by a woman.
On the occasion of the members´ meeting of the Association in Lindau (Lake of Constance), the businesswoman from Leonberg (13 km West of Stuttgart) has been elected in place of Fritz P. Mayer, Associate of Karl Mayer Textilmaschinenfabrik. Mayer, who led the Textile Machinery Association since 2008 as chairman, will remain active for the textile sector and has been elected Vice-Chairman by the new board during its inaugural meeting.

A long history of manufacturing, innovation and flexibility has made the textile and clothing industry in Germany one of the most important sectors in the country. Today, textiles and clothing are the second largest consumer goods market after the food and beverage industry.

Germany is a major player in foreign trade with textiles and clothing. The country is the fourth largest exporter of textiles and clothing worldwide, registering an export quota of 42 per cent in 2013. At the same time, the country is also the second largest textile importer after the US and has become an attractive market for many textile exporting countries since the 1980s. Especially in the clothing segment, Germany imports a vast majority of apparel products, thus offering an appealing opportunity for foreign companies.

´The German textile machinery manufacturers performed very well last year. With a plus of 2.5 per cent on production and global exports they had good opportunities on nearly all Asian markets. The German textile machinery exports to India amounted in 2014 in total up to 210 million Euro´, said Thomas Waldmann, Managing Director, VDMA Textile Machinery Association.

According to a reasearch by Deutsche Bank Research, German companies are global leaders in the technical textiles segment: their market share is around 45 per cent. The demand for (technical) textiles is being stimulated by long-term global trends. These include the rising population; higher disposable income and increasing industrialisation, particularly in the developing countries; growing mobility requirements; the trend to increasing environmental protection and energy efficiency; and rising health spending.

"ITMA will witness 235 German companies exhibiting"

In an exclusive interaction with ITJ Editor, Thomas Waldmann, Managing Director, VDMA Textile Machinery Association, shares how the last year was for the German textile machinery industry in terms of performance, and Germany´s presence in ITMA Milano, a premier textile event in the world which will be held in November 9-12 in Milan, Italy.

Editor: How has been the year 2014 for the German textile machinery industry in terms of performance?
Thomas Waldman (TW): The German textile machinery manufacturers performed very well last year. With a plus of 2.5 per cent on production and global exports they had good opportunities on nearly all Asian markets. The German textile machinery exports to India amounted in 2014 in total up to 210 million Euro.

Editor: Were there any special efforts mounted in recent times to boost German industry´s presence in Asia, and particularly in India?
TW: A survey of the VDMA liaison office India among Indian textile producers showed that the majority of the responding companies is looking positively into the near future: About 60 per cent of the responding companies expect business to be good or even very good in the first six months of 2015.

About 40 per cent of the responding comp