With the weakening of the Euro and the robust demand from outside the Euro area, especially the United States and China (which increased exports), Germany's economy has grown. The rising oil prices are expected to narrow the current account surplus. However, export growth may weaken as the impact of the earlier Euro depreciation wanes and as rising wages deteriorate Germany’s competitiveness within the Euro area. Demand from China, a prime export destination for Germany, is also projected to grow at a lower rate in 2018. Low interest rates along with high capacity utilization have helped maintain high profitability, despite business investment remaining subdued and hampering credit growth. Strong integration across global value chains to outsource labor-intensive tasks and strengthened sales in distant dynamic markets, particularly Asia, have made Germany’s manufacturers highly competitive. The depreciation of the Euro and the wage restraint have further made the playing ground for German manufacturers more challenging. The domestic logistics market is increasingly under pressure from low-cost neighboring markets such as Poland. Goods transportation is a low margin business within a highly fragmented market. Germany’s logistics market is projected to contribute 21% of the national growth by 2025, when compared to its current 8%, with intralogistics being a key driver. Innovative logistics solutions, automation in material handling, electromobility, the digitalization of chemicals logistics, yard management, and real-time control at refineries are some of the key transformational trends shaping the German logistics market. Logistics providers for FMCG goods are expanding warehouse space to accommodate just-in-time deliveries. Investments in technologies will have a significant impact on logistics. Truck platooning, semi-autonomous trucks, and digitized cranes will transform freight transport.--BEGIN PROMO--

Research Scope

The aim of th