Although the German association for plastics and rubber machinery VDMA Kunststoff- und Gummimaschinen (KuG, Frankfurt; http://kug.vdma.org) still called China an “important market for plastics and rubber machines” when presenting its latest figures, German exports of said goods to the People’s Republic continued to contract last year. In fact, the decline of 19.3% was even steeper than that seen in 2014, when German plastics and rubber machinery exports to China fell by just 5.5%. In value terms, deliveries to the People’s Republic came to EUR 653m last year – down more than EUR 200m over the close to EUR 856m registered in 2013.

The data, released ahead of this year’s annual “Chinaplas” industry fair (www.chinaplasonline.com), held in Shanghai / China from 25-28 April 2016 (see also Plasteurope.com of 28.01.2016), show that total global plastics and rubber machinery exports to China came to EUR 2.5 bn in 2014, up by just 0.4% year-on-year. Germany remained the leading supplier, followed by Japan and Taiwan. Data on global deliveries for 2015 is not yet available.

China's economy has been slowing in the last year. The future direction the country will take was recently made public with the announcement of the latest Five-Year Plan (for details, see Plasteurope.com of 09.03.2016).

PIE and its sister publications KI – Kunststoff Information and K-Profi will also have a booth at this year's Chinaplas. Come visit us at E1-B55 in the German Pavilion.