“Logistics and intralogistics have become much more relevant in many customer segments due to the corona pandemic. Delivery bottlenecks and material shortages have altered storage concepts and production supply in many areas, which increases demand for intralogistics solutions,” explained Steffen Bersch, chairman of the VDMA Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association and CEO of SSI SCHAEFER Group. Referring to the current positive order situation and a high order backlog from 2021, the association projects production growth of eight percent for 2022, which approaches the pre-pandemic level for German providers.

The European Union internal market remains the most important trading partner for German materials handling and intralogistics providers. Here, exports increased by almost nine percent up to and including November 2021 compared to the same period last year. France, the Netherlands and Italy were the main buyers in this period. There was also export growth outside the EU in other European countries. Between January and November 2021, almost 38 percent more exports went to Great Britain alone. The largest single customer remains the USA: German manufacturers recorded around 37 percent growth in exports for the period mentioned in 2021. China accounted for a slight decline of almost two percent.