MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - Thanks to growing demand for German glasses, contact lenses and binoculars abroad, manufacturers have generated a slight increase in sales last year after all. As the industry association Spectaris announced on Thursday, exports rose by five percent to 2.45 billion euros. In the EU as well as in North America and Asia, business was significantly better than in the previous year. Domestic business, on the other hand, stagnated at the previous year's level of 2.42 billion euros.

As a result of the higher cost of living and the dampened consumer mood, total industry sales of 4.87 billion euros were "somewhat below expectations," according to the trade association ahead of the Opti trade show in Munich, which begins on Friday. However, the chairwoman Mirjam Rösch was optimistic: cost brakes of the federal government, first signs of a weakening of inflation and an improvement of the consumer climate are positive signals for 2023.

In the medium and long term, all signs point to growth anyway. Bad news for society can in part mean good news for the industry: for example, the aging of society is benefiting it. "More and more children and young people are also becoming nearsighted," and it is to be expected "that defective vision will now be noticed earlier and continue to increase due to more home office work and intensive use of the small screens on mobile phones," Rösch said.

In Germany, more than 42 million people wear glasses, and more than 3 million wear contact lenses. The Spectaris Consumer Optics trade association brings together nearly 100 manufacturers and wholesalers of products sold by opticians and ophthalmologists or used in their work. They employ 20,600 people./rol/DP/stk