While demand for metals and minerals has boosted order intake for many original equipment manufacturers, the sales of Germany mining technology companies have lagged so far in 2021, according to the VDMA.

In 2020, the industry generated total sales of €3.38 billion ($3.83 billion), the organisation, which represents around 3,300 German and European mechanical and plant engineering companies, said. From January to September 2021, sales were down 18% year-on-year at €2.8 billion, while exports in the January-August 2021 period were down 10.4% year-on-year at just under €960 million. Notable drops in export sales were observed in the EU27+UK, China, Russia and Australia, with increases in the USA and NM East unable to make up for that shortfall.

The industry expects sales to pick up by the end of 2021 and anticipates only a moderate decline of 5-10% overall, the VDMA said.

The most common export goods to all markets are, in descending order: crushing and grinding technology, deep drilling technology, mining and roadheaders and tunnel boring machines, the organisation noted.

Michael Schulte Strathaus, Chairman of VDMA Mining (pictured in the centre), expects sales numbers to improve, going forward, as the ‘green mining’ revolution continued to take hold.

“Without mining technology, nothing works in industry now and in the future,” he said at a press conference. “If we want to maintain our current standard of living, we need the corresponding raw materials.

“Only smart mining will lead to green mining. We see our opportunities in offering the best technology worldwide that contributes to resource-saving, efficient, ‘green’ extraction and processing of raw materials.”