Czech machine tools are expected to drop by 10% in 2009

According to statistics from the Czech Republic's Society of Engineering and Technology (SST), despite the economic crisis, in 2008 the output value of metal cutting and forming machine tools in the Czech Republic increased by 13% compared with 2007, reaching 15.6 billion CZK. SST expects that the output value of machine tools in 2009 will fall by more than 10%, mainly due to the large decline in gold cutting machine tools. This forecast is based on information obtained from the association's member companies. In 2008, Czech machine tool exports increased by 9%. Its domestic machine tool enterprises mainly export drilling machines and other gold cutting machine tools, of which 1/3 are exported to Germany, and the rest are exported to Russia, Slovakia and Poland. In contrast, Czech machine tool imports fell by 4% in 2008. Most of the imported machine tools are forming machine tools. Imports of woodworking machines, sawing machines and drilling machines fell the most, by about a third. Among imported machine tools, more than 1/3 are from Germany, and 1/10 are from Japan, Italy and Taiwan. The Czech Republic Engineering Technology Association was established in 1990, and its member companies include major Czech machine tool manufacturers (such as Alta, KovosvitMAS, CKDBlan-skoHolding, etc.).