Canada is major importer of machine tools

Canada is one of the 20 most important export markets for the German machine tool industry. With a volume of 1.27 billion euros (2021), the country is the third largest machine tool market on the American continent and the twelfth largest in the world. Canada's degree of self-sufficiency is low. More than 80 percent of the annual machine tool demand is imported.

In 2021, the German machine tool industry exported machines (including parts and services) worth just under 83 million euros (minus 3 percent compared to the previous year) to Canada. From January to August 2022, the sum of exported machine tools is around 45 million euros. This is about 13 percent lower than in the same period of the previous year. Canada was among the 20 most important export markets for the German machine tool industry. Around 1 percent of total exports went to the second largest country in the world.

Production

As a production location for machine tools Canada is relatively unimportant. In 2021, Canadian manufacturers produced machines with a total value of 560.0 million euros (9 percent up on the previous year). With a share of 0.7 percent of global production Canada is on 16th place worldwide (2021: 74.8 billion euros).

In this context, metal-cutting and metal-removing machine tools accounted for the majority of Canadian production at around 61 percent (approx. 343 million euros). Forming machine tools accounted for a smaller share of total production at 39 percent (approx. 217 million euros).

Export

Canadian machine tool export volume in 2021 was approximately 360 million euros (15 percent up from the previous year). This meant that almost two-thirds of domestic production was destined for sale abroad. The value of machine tool exports increased steadily from 2010 (225 million euros) to 2017 (432 million euros) and has been on a downward trend since then.

Import

In 2021, machine tools (including parts and services) worth 1.07 billion euros (up 14 percent from the previous year) were imported. This means that a large part of Canada's demand for machine tools was covered by imports from abroad. The German share of all Canadian imports was around 8 percent in 2021.

Market volume

The total volume of the Canadian machine tool market in 2021 was almost 1.27 billion euros, 11 percent higher than in the Corona crisis year of 2020. With a share of 1.7 percent, the country ranks 12th among the world's most important machine tool markets. In terrms of individual machine groups, the market for machining centers (110 million euros) was the largest, followed by laser machines (approx. 87 million euros) and lathes (approx. 81 million euros).