The European Commission published its figures that show an increase around 3% above its share in 2000 in global trade with mechanical engineering products. The figures also show that the EU successfully expanded their market shares although emerging competitors tapped into the market.

The results of the new Study on the Competitiveness of the EU Mechanical Engineering Industry, presented by the European Commission show that in 2010 the EU’s share in global trade with mechanical engineering products amounted to 37.2%, which is around 3% above its share in 2000. This development contrasts to the performance of the US and Japan, whose shares fell from 25.6% to 17.4% and from 21.3% to 15.6%, whereas China's share increased to 13.0% from only 3% in 2000.

In addition, the study also shows that mechanical engineering is vital for the EU's current account balance because this industry provide 3 million jobs within the EU and contributes also significantly to a sound current account balance of the EU. Moreover, EU ME employment development has been better than for total manufacturing, despite the fact that ME was hit harder by the crisis than most other EU-industries. In 2010 the EU trade deficit was €156.7 billion for manufactured goods, but for mechanical engineering the EU reached a surplus of €119.2 billion.

With regard to labour productivity, the study shows that Japan is in the lead in terms, closely followed by the US. Third in this ranking is the EU. Another study published in 2011 showed that the industry in the EU was affected by the Japanese tsunami. On the other hand, current Chinese labour productivity levels are comparable to those in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, whereas labour costs in these new Member States are much higher. This gives Chinese enterprises an edge and challenges the new Member States that are more focused on production than on R&D, design and marketing. They will therefore experience growing competition from China.