A good quarter (28%) of companies still rate the situation as good or very good. However, the outlook is not rosy either: around 8 out of 10 companies do not expect the situation to improve in the next six months, and around one in five companies even expect the current situation to deteriorate again.

"Compared to the last time the survey was conducted three months ago, the mood in companies has once again deteriorated noticeably. This is not surprising: the business environment continues to be characterized by numerous crises. That in itself is nothing new, unfortunately! But there is a lack of political determination to make the right adjustments to effectively counter these crises," says VDMA Chief Economist Dr. Ralph Wiechers. "Our country cannot afford a political stalemate. The essentially correct, albeit small, approaches of the growth initiative must be implemented quickly. The federal and state governments have a duty! Election tactics are out of place."

Skepticism also for 2025

As a result, only a few companies are positive about the expected overall result for 2024. Around 40% expect a nominal decline in turnover in the current year, while a further 27% expect their turnover to stagnate. The majority of respondents are also skeptical about 2025, albeit by a narrow margin: over half of companies (54%) do not expect nominal sales growth. 32% of respondents consider stagnation in their turnover to be realistic for 2025. "After a lean 2024 for most companies, 2025 is also likely to be a very challenging year. The weak order intake in recent months has meant that order backlogs have now been used up in many places. As a result, more than a third (37%) of companies rate their own order situation as a major or very major risk with regard to the next six months. This is because a lack of new orders has a direct impact on production," says Wiechers.

Crisis in key customer industries also affects mechanical engineering

A look at the customer sectors of mechanical and plant engineering reveals clear differences. Pharmaceutical products, medical technology, the defense industry and aerospace, among others, stand out positively. On the other hand, three important customer sectors - the automotive industry, mechanical engineering itself and the construction industry - are currently being hit hard. "The situation is particularly difficult in the automotive industry. Three quarters of the companies surveyed consider the situation there to be bad or very bad, and persistently so. Only one in twenty companies expects a positive development in the next six months. The situation is not much better in mechanical engineering itself or in the construction industry. In both customer sectors, more than half of the companies currently assess the situation as negative. Only around one in ten companies expects a positive development in the next six months," explains Wiechers.

USA with good prospects, Germany particularly poor

Regional sales opportunities are also assessed unevenly. The situation in the USA is comparatively positive. Around one in three companies rate the current sales opportunities there as good or even very good. Only 10% of companies see a slowdown in the USA in the next six months, with around one in three companies even expecting further improvement. Current sales opportunities in Germany, on the other hand, are viewed particularly negatively. More than half of the companies consider them to be poor or very poor. Only 13% expect sales opportunities to improve in the next six months, mostly from an already low level. The situation in China is hardly any better: almost one in two companies rate their current sales opportunities as "poor" or "very poor" and only one in five companies expects the situation to improve in the next six months.

Growing need for political action

The need for political action and the expectations of the mechanical engineering industry are high. Companies find the excessive bureaucracy in particular annoying. 92% of companies see an urgent need for political action here. However, respondents also see an acute need to speed up approval procedures (85%) and modernize infrastructure (80%).