“A truly remarkable performance” is how Ulrich Reifenhäuser, chairman of the plastics and rubber manufacturers’ committee in the German machinery association VDMA (KuG, Frankfurt / Germany; www.kug.vdma.org) described the manufacturers’ figures for the first six months of 2010. “No one could have foreseen the 85% jump in orders.”

This is an “ideal scenario” ahead of "K 2010" (27 October - 3 November in Düsseldorf / Germany), remarked Reifenhäuser, who is also managing partner of extrusion specialist Reifenhäuser (Troisdorf / Germany; www.reifenhauser.com) and president of the K 2010 exhibitors’ committee. He said the German machinery sector hopes that the recent growth rates are “not simply the result of pent-up demand but reflect a solid volume of business.”

VDMA figures show that orders for plastics machinery have been “growing from month to month,” and June 2010 was 100% ahead of June 2009. Business with German customers improved 26% year-on-year in the six-month period, demand from abroad by 117%. Orders from the euro zone picked up by 51%. The double and triple-digit improvement should be seen against last year’s low base, said Reifenhäuser, while commenting that the rapid growth “bears witness to a tremendous dynamism” in the industry. Order backlog has “expanded appreciably” this year and now stands at 6.3 months compared with 4 months a year ago.

Sales totals in the industry, 3% below the half-year 2009 mark, still have some catching up to do. KuG managing director Thorsten Kühmann explained that the 23% decline in domestic sales in H1 2010 was due to the “relatively high level” of the 2009 period. Sales to customers abroad rose 7%, sales in the euro zone by 4%.

For full year 2010, the machinery committee predicts that continued progress in order intake will boost turnover by around 11% against 2009. This optimism is reflected in member companies’ mood. The number of firms complaining of a lack of orders has fallen by two-thirds and the round of job cuts that began in the first half of 2009 has “tailed off markedly,” said Kühmann.