Since 2009, with the enforcement of key special projects of “Top Grade NC Machine Tools”, some key technologies of China’s machine tool industry, especially the general and major technologies, have got a breakthrough. This article analyses the international competitiveness and the development trend of China and the major machine tool production powers in recent years. According to preliminary results, the enforcement of key special projects of machine tools has made a positive impact on the trade competitiveness of Chinese machine tool products.

Global machine tool trade

In 2008, Germany, the world’s largest exporter of machine tool, had a machine tool export of $10.13 billion and the second largest exporter Japan had $9.96 billion.

After 2009, the global machine tool industry gradually recovered. Machine tool trade flourished again: In 2010, Japan’s machine tool exports increased to $8.09 billion and became the largest exporter worldwide while Germany fell slightly to $6.61 billion, ranking the second place; In 2011, Japan’s exports increased to $12.66 billion, exceeding the pre-crisis level, and Germany increased to $9.75 billion. In 2012 Germany’s exports exceeded the pre-crisis level.

As a leading machine tool importers, China imported $9.42 billion in 2010, exceeding the pre-crisis level, that number increased to $13.23 billion in 2011 and to a new record of $13.67 billion in 2012. American machine tool imports have also increased year by year, from $2.49 billion in 2009 to the highest record of $6.26 billion in 2012, which exceeded the pre-crisis level.

Judging from the large category, machine tool can be divided into four parts: metal working machine tools and accessories, top grade NC equipment, test equipment and mold, tool, cutter.

Metal working machine tools

Influenced by financial crisis in 2008, global metal working machine tool trade value fell from the highest of $46.05 billion to $30.16 billion in 2009, with a decline of 35 percent. As the global economy recovered after 2010, machine tool trade has gradually increased, which reached the maximum value of $51.38 billion in 2011 and had a slightly decline in 2012.

China’s metal working machine tool trade was basically in line with global trends, however, in 2012, Chinese metal working machine tool’s exports and imports both grew, with the export of $2.74 billion and import of $13.66 billion, and the increase on export is larger.

As a machine tool manufacturer, Germany’s metal working machine tool industry has withstood the challenges of the financial crisis. In 2012, its export reached a new record of $10.45 billion while the import decreased to $3.13 billion over the same period, which was far below the highest level in 2008. Germany ranks a higher level of trade competitiveness.

The financial crisis had a terrible impact on the export of Japan’s metal working machine tool - a sharp drop in exports although rebounded immediately, but the impact on import was little, which was less than $800 million. Since 2011, Japan’s metal working machine tool exports began to exceed $10 billion and reached the highest record of $13.86 billion in 2012 while the import was still below the peak level of that in 2007.

The financial crisis had a larger impact on American metal working machine tool imports than exports, but the recovery was faster. In 2012, the export value of American metal working machine tool was $3.29 billion and the imports value was $ 6.26 billion.

Top-grade CNC

Top-grade CNC decides the number of NC machine tools. In 2007, the global top-grade NC device trade value was $21.73 billion; in 2009, it had a decline of 14 percent, but reached a high record of $30 billion in 2010; the record was refreshed continuously in 2011 and 2012, but the growth was slow with the trade value of $38.46 billion in 2012.

China’s top-grade NC devices were mainly imported, but the imports in 2012 deceased, and exports exceeded imports for the first time.

Influenced by financial crisis, Germany’s top-grade NC devices trade value retreated in 2009, while exceeded the highest level before the crisis in 2011, both imports and exports continued to increase in 2012, but the growth was slowing down. Currently, the exports value of Germany’s high-end CNC devices is $7.9 billion and the imports were $3.77 billion.

Japan’s high-end NC devices were export-oriented, so it recovered from the financial crisis rapidly. The exports exceeded the highest level before the crisis in 2010, and continued to increase in 2011 with a new record of $3.69 billion, but it retreated to $3.21 billion in 2012. The imports were basically around $500 million, set the best record of $680 million in 2012.

According to the trade balance, American high-end CNC device’s domestic gap continued to expand since 2010, which indicated equipment investment in the US was shifting towards high-end CNC machine tool, so the manufacturing sector was gradually recovering.