Outlook for the foundry industry - update of the Guss 2020 forecast

In recent years the German foundry industry has profited disproportionately from global growth and has taken market shares from its competitors in Europe. The global financial and economic crisis hit the industry hard, with production likely declining by 35% in 2009. New orders from important customer areas are now recovering. The utilisation of industry capacities at a current 60-65% is very low, and the firms are in an economically difficult situation. An increase in production in 2010 will not suffice to increase profits fundamentally. Not until the following years of an economic recovery will the firms expand, enlarge their market shares internationally and with high capacity utilisation regain their profitability.