Italy’s exports of plastics and rubber machinery were up 22% year-on-year in H1 2011, reaching an estimated EUR 1.1 bn, the latest figures released by trade association Assocomaplast (Milan / Italy; www.assocomaplast.org) indicate. Given this positive trend – which was already evident in Q1 this year (see Plasteurope.com of 23.06.2011) – the association predicts that machinery exports will generate EUR 2.3 bn this year, an increase of a little more than 14% over full-year 2010. Overall production is on the rise, too, an expected to reach EUR 4 bn by the end of this year. That would be tantamount to an 11% rise over 2010.

Just a few days ago, the German machinery association VDMA (KuG, Frankfurt / Germany; www.kug.vdma.org) announced that export deliveries had risen by 46.5% by the middle of 2011 – see Plasteurope.com of 23.09.2011.

Assocomaplast president Giorgio Colombo attributes the rise to the intensive sales actions undertaken by the sector’s small- and medium-sized businesses, including B2B meetings in Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Hungary, Romania and China. Colombo also pointed towards two new Assocomaplast liaison offices – located in Beijing / China and Moscow / Russia respectively and opened about a year ago – which he said helped Italian plastics machinery manufacturers gain information for those markets. In addition, Assocomoplast and the Association of Italian Manufacturers of Machine Tools, Robots, Automation Systems and Ancillary Products (UCIMU, Milan / Italy; www.ucimu.it) together set up a platform that assists Italian companies seeking to do business in India.

Association data indicate that extruders accounted for 11% of total foreign sales in H1 2011, although both flexographic printers and injection moulding machines also saw a year-on-year rise. Says Assocomaplast: “Generally speaking, all the machinery categories have shown a positive trend, with the majority reaching double-digit rises.”

According to president Colombo, the success of Italy’s plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers can be ascribed mostly to their technological innovations, including more than 600 international patents in the field.

An Assocomaplast analysis of leading export destinations over the past three years shows that the Americas, in particular Latin America, and the Far East have been the strongest destination markets, with exports to the former up by an average 3% and to the latter – particularly China – by 7% (see also Plasteurope.com of 06.01.2011). In fact, the association says the People’s Republic was the most important destination for Italian plastics and rubber machinery in Asia in H1 2011, accounting for 6.2% of all exports, a 24% year-on-year rise over the first six months of 2010.

Exports to Europe also rose by 30% year-on-year, although the association points out that the trend appears flatter when looking at a three-year period. Given the social and political instability in the Middle East, deliveries to this part of the world saw a decline in the first six months of this year, down 5% year-on-year. From a three-year perspective, sales to the region were down 20% - a similar picture as in Africa and Australiasia, Assocomaplast data reveals.

The main destination country was Germany, accounting for 15% of all Italian plastics and rubber machinery sales in H1 2011, followed by France, China, the US and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Together, these key markets have for some time now accounted for 1/3 of Italy’s plastics machinery exports, Assocomaplast says. The association also made special reference to Poland, whose imports of Italian plastics and rubber machinery saw an impressive 70% rise in H1 2011 over the first six months of 2010.