Europe to focus on higher margin products

Furthermore, to meet customer demands, these companies are maintaining a regional manufacturing presence, which is increasingly viewed on a broader European scale as manufacturers take advantage of lower costs in Central and Eastern Europe. Factors such as rising wages in China tip the balance for some products to in-region manufacturing when considering costs and time for logistics, managerial travel, and communications, and other factors including environmental and social responsibility and risk management. The European Union has become the world’s largest economy and the global recovery is off to a stronger start than anticipated earlier but is proceeding at different speeds in the various regions. In most advanced economies, the recovery is expected to remain sluggish by past standards, whereas in many emerging and developing economies, activity is expected to be relatively vigorous, largely driven by buoyant internal demand. In the period to 2014 the focus will continue to be on higher margin products in key sectors such as medical, industrial, aerospace & defense, renewable energy, high-end communications and computing. Automotive, as it recovers from the almost unprecedented decline in vehicle production, will once again be a key driver in particular in certain countries such as Germany.