After a weak start to 2013, the German plastics processing sector appears to have found its feet in the second quarter. After lingering winter weather in March, the industry’s seasonal peak appears to have shifted into April, figures published by Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis,Wiesbaden; www.destatis.de) suggest.

From April to June, sales of German plastics converters rose 3.6% year-on-year to EUR 12.3 bn. The slight gain of 0.34% to EUR 23.5 bn over the half-year period was thanks to a record April, in which revenues of EUR 4.2 bn were 10% higher compared with the same month of both 2011 and 2012.

The figures confirm predictions by the German plastics converters association, Gesamtverband Kunststoffverarbeitende Industrie (GKV, Bad Homburg; www.gkv.de), in April that the sector’s economy was on the road to recovery. Figures for the first two quarters show that technical components and packaging performed especially well, while sales of sheet, film, hoses and profiles stuttered badly. Domestic sales were flat, but exports picked up.

After a decline of 2% in Q1, the statistics agency’s category “other plastic products”, made up to two-thirds of technical components, gained considerable ground in Q2, with sales rising 6.3% year-on-year. For the six-month period, turnover of these products increased by 2% to EUR 9.2 bn, with the strength of the automotive industry in a generally weak European economy undoubtedly playing a role.

Revenues of the packaging sector, stagnant in Q1, added more than 4% in Q2 and gains for the six-month period totalled 2% to EUR 3.7 bn. An improvement of nearly 4% in sales to the building industry in Q2 was insufficient to compensate for a setback of 5% in Q1, so that sales of EUR 2.3 bn in the half-year period were down slightly year-on-year.

Manufacturers of films for packaging as well as extruders of profiles, pipe and sheet – whose business is grouped under the statistical heading sheet, film, hoses and profiles – saw business recede by 2% in H1 2013 against the 2012 period to EUR 8.4 bn, despite some growth in the first quarter.

Domestic sales of German plastics converters from January to June 2013 were flat at the 2012 half-year level of EUR 14.4 bn, while export revenues – which account for 38% overall – improved by 1.5% to EUR 9.2 bn. Sales to the eurozone, accounting for around 60% of the sector’s total, added 1.4% to EUR 4.6 bn. Sales outside the European internal market gained 1.6% to EUR 3.7 bn.

On the whole, the sentiment in the German plastics processing sector appears to be improving, as the recent survey by Plasteurope.com’s sister publication, Kunststoff Information (KI, Bad Homburg / Germany; www.kiweb.de) – see Plasteurope.com of 29.07.2013 –, and reports from industry players suggest. Business confidence in the eurozone countries of Spain (see Plasteurope.com of 28.05.2013) and France (see Plasteurope.com of 26.07.2013), and to some degree Italy (see Plasteurope.com of 21.08.2013), is seen to be improving noticeably.