Manufacturing in Germany continues to be very competitive

The high competitiveness of German manufacturing is confirmed not only by the hard data, such as a comparison of international trends of unit labour costs, but also by current results of a special survey on competitiveness: In a quarterly survey funded by the European Commission (in January, April, July and October), industrial firms in the EU members states are asked to assess how the competitiveness of their products has changed. According to the results of this survey (in Germany as a special question in the Ifo Business Survey), German manufacturing firms succeeded, in their estimation, in improving their competitiveness since 2000, at a pace that was above the EU average. Especially vis-à-vis France and Italy, German firms have a competitive edge. Differentiated according to individual industries, motor vehicle construction and the clothing industry have been the most successful in recent years in improving their competitive position