The Mining Association, affiliated in the German Engineering Federation, the VDMA, is again reporting falling sales. Nevertheless, it is optimistic that 2017 will bring a return to profit. As regards the global market, too, the analysts are expecting things to improve in 2016 and 2017. One reason for the cautious optimism is bauma, which takes place from April 11 to 17, 2016 in Munich.

Experience shows that many customers delay purchasing decisions until bauma, where they can first get an overview of the world market offering. Also as regards the rising number of customer inquiries, bauma is coming at a good time - an upturn would certainly do the sector a lot of good.

The VDMA Mining Association expects that demand for the metallic but also mineral raw materials extracted in hard-rock mining will increase substantially as a result of a global expansion in alternative methods of energy production.