Business News
German industry upbeat at Hanover Fair
Apr 19, 2010, 16:34 GMT
Hanover, Germany - German industry executives were upbeat Monday at the start of the five-day Hanover Fair, their main annual exhibition of factory equipment, including robots and tools.
Despite the absence of many exhibitors and buyers because of a lockdown of northern Europe's airspace, German exporters said they were taking heart from a rise in orders from outside Europe.
Engineering companies expected to end this year just covering their costs, but that was better than last year's losses, said Hannes Hesse, head of the VDMA plant engineering federation.
But he warned that orders were still back at the level of 2004. 'We should not get elated,' he warned.
German steelmakers warned of problems ahead, saying the recent increase in prices for iron ore and coking coal might even choke off recovery.
Hans Juergen Kerkhoff, president of the German Steel Association, said it would turn out to be 'probably the biggest economic upset since the Oil Shock' of the 1970s and steelmakers were bound to pass on the cost increase in the form of higher steel prices.
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