Key success factors for Danish machinery businesses is their ability to streamline costsand continued investment in product development/new technology.
Demand for Belgian machines and engineering businesses is still affected by the difficulties some major buyer industries are facing (e.g. construction).
The Swedish machinery industry has shown several years of positive development. Machinery production is expected to grow 2.3% in 2016 and 0.9% in 2017.
Due to the weaker exchange rate and increased demand from overseas markets, Dutch food exports increased in 2015 and are expected to rise further in 2016.
Natural gas prices have fallen significantly in Asia and Europe on the back of the sliding oil price. As more LNG comes on the market regional prices are set to remain low.