'Better off thanks to China': German companies double down on resurgent giant
German industrial robot-maker Hahn Automation plans to invest millions of euros in new factories in China over the next three years, keen to capitalise on an economy that's rebounding more rapidly than others from the COVID-19 crisis.
"Our goal is to make up to 25 percent of our sales in China by 2025," he told Reuters, up from roughly 10 percent now.
German industry is deepening ties with China, which battled the pandemic with stricter measures than other countries, moved out of a first lockdown earlier and saw demand rebound more quickly.
Olaf Kiesewetter, CEO of car sensor supplier UST in Thuringia in eastern Germany, shares the same ambition of making 25 percent of sales in China.
"We clearly notice that China has come out of the crisis with force," he told Reuters, adding that China had already become UST's biggest export market outside the European Union a couple of years ago, accounting for 15 percent of sales.
"Without China, our business in the third quarter wouldn't have been so good. So there is no doubt that we're better off thanks to China."
In terms of top destinations for German exports by value, China overtook France in the first nine months of 2020 and came close to the United States, data from the Federal Statistics Office compiled for Reuters showed.
A senior official told Reuters that given the latest trade and growth trends, China was likely to overtake the United States by the end of the year, to become number one.
China's share of overall German exports rose to nearly 8 percent in the Jan-Sept period, from roughly 7 percent a year earlier, according to the data. China is also Germany's top supplier, with its share of German imports rising to more than 11 percent from below 10 percent.
In the near term, at least, China is looking stronger than many countries in the West.
Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, is reeling under a second wave of COVID-19 and its economy is forecast to shrink by a record 6 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. China is expected to be the only major economy to report growth this year, with a projected expansion rate of 1.9 percent.
Germany is expected to rebound in 2021, yet its projected growth of 4.2 percent still lags the IMF's global forecast of 5.2 percent and is around half of China's projected 8.2 percent.
The disruptions caused by the pandemic are exposing Europe's dependencies in certain areas.
A new survey from the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), shared exclusively with Reuters, found more than 100 product categories in which the EU has a critical strategic dependence on imports from China.
"Europe critically depends on Chinese imports for the pharmaceutical, chemical and electronics sectors, mostly on components produced in technologically less sophisticated areas of the value chain," MERICS researcher Max Zenglein said.
German industry is deepening ties with China, which battled the pandemic with stricter measures than other countries, moved out of a first lockdown earlier and saw demand rebound more quickly.
Olaf Kiesewetter, CEO of car sensor supplier UST in Thuringia in eastern Germany, shares the same ambition of making 25 percent of sales in China.
"We clearly notice that China has come out of the crisis with force," he told Reuters, adding that China had already become UST's biggest export market outside the European Union a couple of years ago, accounting for 15 percent of sales.
"Without China, our business in the third quarter wouldn't have been so good. So there is no doubt that we're better off thanks to China."
In terms of top destinations for German exports by value, China overtook France in the first nine months of 2020 and came close to the United States, data from the Federal Statistics Office compiled for Reuters showed.
A senior official told Reuters that given the latest trade and growth trends, China was likely to overtake the United States by the end of the year, to become number one.
China's share of overall German exports rose to nearly 8 percent in the Jan-Sept period, from roughly 7 percent a year earlier, according to the data. China is also Germany's top supplier, with its share of German imports rising to more than 11 percent from below 10 percent.
In the near term, at least, China is looking stronger than many countries in the West.
Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, is reeling under a second wave of COVID-19 and its economy is forecast to shrink by a record 6 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. China is expected to be the only major economy to report growth this year, with a projected expansion rate of 1.9 percent.
Germany is expected to rebound in 2021, yet its projected growth of 4.2 percent still lags the IMF's global forecast of 5.2 percent and is around half of China's projected 8.2 percent.
The disruptions caused by the pandemic are exposing Europe's dependencies in certain areas.
A new survey from the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), shared exclusively with Reuters, found more than 100 product categories in which the EU has a critical strategic dependence on imports from China.
"Europe critically depends on Chinese imports for the pharmaceutical, chemical and electronics sectors, mostly on components produced in technologically less sophisticated areas of the value chain," MERICS researcher Max Zenglein said.
