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chaos, while general uncertainty is causing low will- ingness to invest globally, and the economy has been weakened by lockdown. In Germany too, this is noticeable in this export-based branch of indus- try. Added to this are such economic policy factors as Brexit and the US elections, as well as political tensions in China. In many places, companies are still struggling to make major investments, remain- ing hesitant for the moment.
In Germany the industry is currently relying on short-time working. Between January and May, the order book generally fell by 13 percent. Down by 15 percent, international demand collapsed more seri- ously than in Germany, where it dropped eight per- cent. Being only minimally affected, the first quarter prevented a serious collapse.
The industry hopes that the situation will return to normal in the course of next year, as soon as order books improve again. That will be the case if Germa- ny is not hit by a ‘second wave’, or only minimally, so that no fresh lockdown arises. Even in the ab- sence of a lockdown, however, a second wave could wreak serious damage, because any long gap in or- ders could result in insolvencies and job losses.
EXPORT TRENDS 2020 – SURVEY OF PORT OF HAMBURG MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE OFFICES
WESTERN GERMANY
This region relies heavily on exporting. The COVID-19 pandemic therefore made serious in- roads. Yet as a result of robust efforts by companies in the leading pharmaceutical/chemical, textile, en- gineering, furniture, electronics, food and trading sectors, these are now on track for recovery. Trad- ers, as well as the textile and furniture industries, are reporting positive trends. Volume growth is equally strong on forestry products. The automotive sector is still having a hard time.
EASTERN GERMANY
The coronavirus pandemic mainly caused down- turns in trade within Europe. The resumption in manufacturing since May means that a recovery in this area is expected. Estimates of the market situa- tion in economic surveys indicate an improvement from deeply pessimistic to moderately optimistic for the second half of 2020. Doubts remain on whether
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