Christoph Miller, head of the trade fair department at VDW, said: “For German manufacturers, ASEAN is a major customer region with a highly dynamic character. More and more production is being generated in the ASEAN region or being relocated from other markets into the ASEAN region. For the most part, these trends are emerging from the automotive and automotive supply industries, electronics, shipbuilding and general machinery construction.”
A German machine tool (Photo: VNA)
The overall potential of the ASEAN region shows that after the strong years from 2012 to 2015, current machine tool consumption has stabilised at a level of about EUR3 billion (USD3.4 billion), based on total imports to each country. Drivers here are Thailand and Vietnam, he said.
Among export markets for the German machine tool industry, ASEAN as a whole region is ranked seventh. The two biggest markets in the region – Vietnam and Thailand – are also major export markets for the German automotive industry, ranking 14th and 16th, respectively.
Overall, it is clear that Asia – with China as the biggest export market, followed by Japan, the Republic of Korea and ASEAN – is a major export region for the German machine tool industry, he said.
VDW, together with major machine manufacturers and control system manufacturers, has launched a project to define a universal interface based on the OPC Unified Architecture format (a machine to machine communication protocol for industrial automation developed by the OPC Foundation), he said.
According to VDW, Germany will debut high technologies and new solutions in metalworking at METALEX 2019, which will be transferred to countries in the ASEAN region.
Germany is eyeing the ASEAN market due to the region’s dynamic and strong development. In addition, the Industry 4.0 trend will provide opportunities for German companies to launch high technologies and new solutions in metalworking, together with know-how, to ASEAN and Vietnam in particular, it said.
According to the Vietnam Customs, Vietnam’s machinery and equipment imports were worth USD24.58 billion in the first nine months of the year, accounting for 14.2 percent of the country’s total import revenue.
China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Germany were the biggest suppliers of machinery and equipment to Vietnam.
According to experts, more and more firms have invested in machinery and equipment to increase productivity and efficiency to improve their competitiveness in the global market./.