Europe’s plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers anticipate that sales will grow by an average of 1.8% in the current year and in the two years ahead, according to the umbrella association EUROMAP.
During a EUROMAP press conference held on October 18 in the Düsseldorf Exhibition Center, President Luciano Anceschi, Vice President Dr. Karlheinz Bourdon and Secretary General Thorsten Kühmann shared their perspectives on the current business situation of plastics and rubber machinery worldwide and market outlook of 2017.
“This forecast means that the industry in the member countries of EUROMAP will continue to grow,” Anceschi reported. “Between 2005 and 2015, sales in our countries rose from €9.3 billion to €13.5 billion, up by a noteworthy 46%, albeit less than the 83% growth recorded worldwide in the same period.”
Dr. Bourdon added: “At the same time, exports from EUROMAP countries rose by 52%, from €6.6 billion to €10 billion. Here, the European growth rate was only slightly below the global increase of 56%. For us Europeans, the whole world is our market, whereas in the last decade China was still predominantly serving its own market.”
Exports to China went down slightly in 2015, he said, because European manufacturers begin to invest their facilities in China for products targeting the low-end or medium-end segments.
“But the high-end machinery in China are still imported from the Europe. This situation is good for the European manufacturers, which means we still take the lead in the high-end market of China,” Dr. Bourdon continued.
In 2015, the EUROMAP countries as a whole accounted for 47% of world exports, while China’s share, following a surge in exports, reached 15%.
In the years 2016 to 2018, global sales of plastics and rubber machinery are expected to grow by an average of 3.4%, with China as the main growth driver.
So far as German manufacturers are concerned, the VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association confirms the forecast made in the spring of 2% growth both this year and next.
