FRANKFURT, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Germany's VDMA association of machinery and equipment makers is sticking to its estimate that its members will roughly match last year's production volume in 2009, the group's managing director Hannes Hesse told daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday.
The association, which represents companies that make machines and equipment for industrial refining, processing and assembly, said in October that it saw production in the sector stagnating in 2009 after an expected output growth of 5 percent in 2008.
"Even though we don't know how the situation will present itself in three months we are not pessimistic because many companies have positioned themselves splendidly," Hesse was quoted as saying in an excerpt of an interview provided to Reuters before publication on Wednesday.
Unfilled orders alone will keep companies busy for the next six months on average and afterwards the global government stimulus packages should begin to show an effect, he added.
German engineering companies stand to benefit should the new U.S. president decide to support the nation's car industry and to shore up investments in renewable energy, Hesse also said.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Bernard Orr)