MUNICH°° In 2019, before the corona crisis, the manufacturing industry in Bavaria was able to increase its total turnover by 1.5 percent compared to the previous year. This is the conclusion by the Industry Report Bavaria 2020, which has now been presented by Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger. In total, the more than 7,600 industrial companies and their more than 1.3 million employees have generated a total turnover of almost 382 billion euros. Minister of Economic Affairs Aiwanger: “Bavaria’s industry was in excellent shape in 2019 as well, despite the increasingly complex international environment. Now we have to put the bottoming out of the economy caused by corona behind us as quickly as possible. Our claim is that innovative products are not only invented in Bavaria, but also manufactured here. Promoting additive manufacturing is therefore just as much a priority as closing the gap in the mobile communications infrastructure to enable networked Industry 4.0 applications. We also see a great opportunity in the relocation of production facilities. Corona has painfully shown us how dangerous interrupted supply chains are for our companies.”
 
Measured by the number of people in employment, the manufacturing industry was the third largest economic sector in Bavaria with 20.5 percent in 2019. The share of the total gross value added fell slightly by 1.3 points to 25 percent. The number of employees fell by 0.5 percent. The development of employment and turnover figures differed in the Bavarian administrative districts: while turnover in Upper Bavaria, the Upper Palatinate and Swabia saw an increase compared to 2018, Lower Bavaria, Upper Franconia, Middle Franconia and Lower Franconia each recorded decreases. The Bavarian administrative districts also showed different trends in terms of employment.
 
Despite the global uncertainties, Bavaria’s export ratio increased last year by 2.5 percent to 54.3 percent. Aiwanger: “This positive development in a difficult environment underlines the international competitiveness of Bavarian industry.” The European Union countries clearly remain the most important trading partners: with 57.2 percent of exports and 61.1 percent of imports, a large part of the turnover was achieved within the EU internal market.
 
Minister of Economic Affairs Aiwanger: “The corona pandemic has shown us how quickly the global economic order can change. With the LfA loan programmes, bridging assistance and the Bayernfonds, we are therefore relying on the right instruments to strengthen the companies’ capital base during these difficult times. Our active industrial policy also supports companies in their transformation.”
 
The Industry Report 2020 is available online at: https://www.stmwi.bayern.de/en/economy-location-marketing/industry/.