18 March, 2025San Sebastian, 18 March 2025.- The machining and metal mechanical transformation industry has seen a slight drop in turnover by 1.7% in 2024. Analysed by sub-sectors, machining held steady with a 0.6% rise, while boilermaking and metal forming dropped by 6.4%.
“After 3 years of strong growth, 2024 has maintained a good level of activity. Although turnover is showing a slight decline, it is worth highlighting that the figure achieved in 2023 was a historic high. This is why, despite the decline, we are taking this result as a positive. This evolution has not been felt evenly across all companies, since the impact varies depending on the sectors they are active in. Companies focused on sectors like aeronautics, naval and defence have experienced increases in activity levels. While other sectors such as wind power, construction or capital goods are showing a certain weakness” reports Fernando Gastaldo, president of AFMEC.
Exports, which account for 25.5% of turnover, are up by 2.1% in 2024. The main export destinations were France (29%) and Germany (22.8%), followed by the United States (9.7%), Denmark (3.4%) and Austria (3.4%).
AFMEC companies have a wide range of customer sectors, the most important of which are machine tools and capital goods (24%), the aeronautics and aerospace sectors (15.3%), power generation (14.6%), the automotive sector (8.8%) and metal structures and construction in general (5%).
In 2024, the companies in the sector have increased their level of investment in equipment by 45.9% with respect to 2023. As explained by Fernando Gastaldo: “Companies continue to invest in the modernisation of their production equipment, aware that thisis a key factor for their competitiveness. We are dealing with a sector that serves customers with high levels of demand and precision, which means that advanced technology is essential. Support programmes promoted by the administrations play a fundamental role, as they facilitate access to state-of-the-art equipment and contribute to strengthening the sector's competitiveness at international level.”
In terms of the forecasts for 2025, Fernando Gastaldo states: “Making forecasts in a context of extreme industrial uncertainty at international level and with a challenging geopolitical situation is very complex. In general, the current level of activity and order portfolio of the companies is positive, although turnover figures show that some sectors are undergoing difficulties, which leads us to anticipate a slightly worrisome downward trend in the first half of 2025. Facing into the second half of the year, we hope to see an improvement in the rhythm of activity, as some of the uncertainties affecting the market begin to dissipate.”
The Association has 205 member companies, each with an average staff of 27.5 people. The headcount increased by 3.8% in 2024, which consolidates the increases recorded since 2021. Fernando Gastaldo remarked: “One of the main challenges to growth in our companies is the difficulty in attracting talent, due to the scarcity of human resources with the right technical training. The demand for qualified profiles remains high, but the number of young people trained in vocational colleges and universities is not sufficient to meet the needs of the sector. In order to tackle this situation, AFM Cluster has launched various activities to attract talent, including the JOIND.ES employment platform, a tool designed to connect companies with professionals looking for new opportunities.”
In addition to the challenge of finding talent, there are other factors causing uncertainty in the sector’s companies. Fernando Gastaldo commented on this: “Another of the concerns we have is the strong increase in costs over recent years, which has put even more pressure on the already very tight profit margins. In order for the companies to be able to stay competitive and bring value to society, it is fundamental to guarantee their economic sustainability.”
AFMEC forms part of AFM CLUSTER, an organisation made up of close to 800 businesses belonging to the advanced and digital manufacturing sector and which constitutes the country's top and most powerful industrial ecosystem: machine-tool and metal-mechanical transformation companies, manufacturers and importers of manufacturing technologies such as machine-tools and 3D printing, manufacturers of components and cutting tools, hand tools, automation technologies, robotics, industrial digitalisation and industrial startups.
KEY EVENTS 2025
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