BERLIN (Reuters) – German engineering firms expects production to decline by 17% this year before growing by 2% in 2021 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and protectionism in international trade, business association VDMA said on Tuesday.
The lobby group also said changes in the automobile industry were weighing on the sector.
VDMA said the forecast of 2% growth for next year was based on the assumption that the pandemic would not paralyse markets and supply chains again and that important markets would not get dragged into further trade wars.
(Reporting by Thomas Seythal; Editing by Michelle Adair)
