nt The President of AFM comments: “Although it is true that industry has become somewhat more dynamic over the last three years, it is no less true that the machine-tool consumption is surprisingly low for a country of the size of Spain, that needs to regenerate its production model. An advanced, intelligent and digitalised industry that does not invest in manufacturing technology is not conceivable. Current investment levels are clearly lower than the depreciation rate of the existing stock, and we fear that we are witnessing an industrial decapitalisation in some areas of the country.” And, he adds: “The machine-tool consumption is a clear indicator of industrial competitiveness and in view of the gures, Spain needs a decisive boost to invest in production equipment with a ripple effect. It is extremely pressing to enable Renove plans at a national level, similar to those drawn up by administrations such as the Basque administration, accompan- ying them with decisive tax measures such as those adopted by other countries like Italy, that reward reinvesting earnings in production equipment.” Orders 2016 has shown an interesting growth in machine orders, with an increase of more than 22%. This unusual gure is due to an extremely high investment of the automotive sector, which has drawn large press manufacturers and the metal forming subsector, in general, with it. This circumstance has led to a major increase in orders (+56%) and the largest capture ever registered by the subsector. Metal cutting, however, has had a complicated year in many of its main markets, registering a drop of 4.7% in capture in 2016. 2017 has begun in a similar manner to 2016 insofar as capture is concerned, and although it is still soon to make forecasts, it will be very complicated to equal the global capture registered last year. In fact, a reduction seems more logical. 2017 Forecast Perspectives for 2017 are optimistic. The Director of AFM, Xabier Ortueta, augurs a 2017 with growth in turnover. “An increase in turnover of between 8 and 10% is foreseeable in 2017, tapping into the pull of the capture in the metal forming subsector. Likewise, we expect a similar growth in exports.” Regarding the market situation, he states: “we have detected that the start of the year points towards a better situation in general, and in such important markets as Germany or China, in particular, where the business expectation indicators have >>5 SECTOR DATA