Last year, German manufacturers of machine vision achieved 97 percent of their sales in the two segments "components" (50 percent) and "systems" (47 percent). The export ratio of these branches of business is high. The manufacturers of image processing components generated 66 percent of their sales abroad: Exports to Asian countries contributed 30 percent to sales in 2021 - the strongest individual market was China with a market share of 56 percent of Asian exports. Exports to China rose by 20 percent in 2021. The largest growth market in the region was India with a plus of 89 percent. Exports to North America grew by 15 percent in 2021. Exports to other European countries contributed 22 percent to sales. Sales in Europe as a whole grew by 15 percent.

The manufacturers of image processing systems achieved 74 percent of their sales on foreign markets. Asian countries contributed 33 percent to sales – exports increased by 22 percent in 2021. China business accounted for 38 percent of Asia exports and grew by 16 percent. The largest growth market in this segment was India with growth of 20 percent. Exports to other European countries contributed 24 percent to sales. The recovery of the European market is reflected in the books with a sales increase of 22 percent. Exports to America accounted for 16 percent of sales. Most of these exports went to North America (95 percent). Sales here increased by 23 percent in 2021. Exports to South and Central America recovered from their 2020 slump - a 63 percent drop - and rose 62 percent.

The manufacturing industry is the largest customer sector for industrial image processing in Germany and has a market share of around 60 percent. In the application fields of image processing components and systems, object recognition (21 percent) and quality control (20 percent) have the largest market shares.