Israel´s imports of plastics and rubber processing machinery recovered significantly last year after the market slump of 2009. However, the market potential is far from exhausted and, with plastics industry production picking up again rapidly, companies are becoming increasingly keen to invest. This is one of the key findings from the latest report issued by Germany Trade and Invest (gtai, Berlin / Germany; www.gtai.de).

Accounting for nearly one fifth of the country's plastics machinery imports in 2010 (worth USD 12.4m), Germany was Israel's leading supplier last year. Although this constitutes a significant improvement over 2009, when German plastics machinery manufacturers' share of the Israeli market dropped to around 12%, it was still a far cry from the peak years of 2000 to 2003, when their market share reached around 35%. Italy was the Mediterranean country’s second most important source of plastics machinery, followed by China in third place. Only a decade ago, Chinese machine manufacturers were regarded as no more than "also-rans".

As a result of the 2009 economic crisis, Israel's plastics and rubber processing industry significantly curtailed its investment activity, a move that saw imports of plastics processing machines suddenly halved. In 2010, converters began investing again and imported nearly 30% more machines than in 2009. All in all, Israel imported plastics and rubber processing machinery to the tune of USD 63.5m last year. This was slightly below the 2004 figure, but a long way short of the record imports of 2006 to 2008, which peaked at USD 101m in 2007. Nevertheless, market insiders are confident that plastics converters will significantly step up their investments in the coming years, and thus expect plastics machinery imports to continue rising.

According to gtai, the added value of Israel's plastics and rubber processing industry grew by 15.8% in 2010, slightly above pre-crisis levels. The German group expects that number to rise further in 2011, due not the least to the strong recovery in exports of finished plastic products, which were about 30% higher in dollar terms in Q1 2011 than in the respective quarter of 2010.

Plastics products accounted for 92.2% of plastics and rubber processing industry sales in 2009, with rubber products making up the remaining 7.8%. Israel's plastics processing industry produces a wide range of products including composite materials and other high-grade products for technical applications. Based on official 2009 statistics, "plastics products for technical use" accounted for USD 834m in turnover, or a respectable 24% of total industry sales of USD 3.5 bn. Packaging and domestic products accounted for 22% (USD 773m), while semi-finished products including plastic film accounted for the lion's share of 40% (USD 1.4 bn).

Israel's plastics and rubber industry is organised in two trade associations. Small firms with up to 20 employees belong to the trade association of the plastics and rubber industry in the Association of Craft and Industry (Tel Aviv; www.aci.org.il), while around 120 larger converters are members of the Israeli Association of Plastics and Rubber Manufacturers (Tel Aviv; www.industry.org.il).