Following last year’s massive slump, demand for plastics and rubber machinery has picked up considerably in 2010. Euromap (Frankfurt / Germany; www.euromap.org), the European association of plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers, expects production value among its member countries to rise by 10-15%. This would translate into a volume of EUR 14.6-15.2 bn, Euromap president Bernhard Merki told a press conference during “K 2010”. Last year the production volume among Euromap member countries had dropped to EUR 13.3 bn – down 24.5% year-on-year over the record figure of 2008.

Merki said the downturn began in Q4 2008 and lasted until the summer of 2009 with the core machinery segment suffering the greatest losses as production value dropped by 30.2% to EUR 7.7 bn. At EUR 1.2 bn, sales of auxiliary and peripheral equipment were down 27.7% year-on-year, whereas moulds and dies saw revenues cave in by 10.4% over 2008, down to EUR 3.9 bn. Flexographic printing machines saw the smallest year-on-year decline, down 10.2% at EUR 441m.

Using core machinery figures as the point of reference, Euromap members’ share in global plastics machinery production also dropped – from 50.3% in 2008 to 45.5% last year. Germany’s share of the global market dropped from 25.3% to 22.6%, while China’s rose from 19.1% to 23.5%. In the latter case, government economic stimulus programmes aided the People’s Republic to overcome the economic crisis quite quickly.

Aside from a few exceptions there was little demand from key markets targeted by European plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers. Key target regions became virtually inaccessible almost simultaneously – something the industry had never experienced before. While Asia’s export business recovered rather quickly, this could not compensate for the loss of the other markets. At EUR 8.8 bn, Euromap machinery exports were down 29.5% below the record numbers achieved in 2008. Here, too, core machinery suffered the greatest losses – 2009 exports were down 33.7% year-on-year.

The downward slide only started to bottom out in Q4 2009, about one year after it had first begun. Euromap countries increasingly saw new orders trickling in, a trend that picked up speed in 2010. Most orders come from Europe and Asia – in particular mostly from China and India – but also from Brazil and Mexico.

Still, European plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers are worried about the weak euro, as a result of which exports to USD-based markets have become more expensive. The industry also is worried about the end to government subsidies for infrastructure programmes as well as the ongoing high fluctuation in demand. Nevertheless, Euromap has adjusted upward its earlier estimate of 6% growth for 2010.

Shortly before “K 2010”, Germany’s VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association (KuG, Frankfurt; www.kug.vdma.org) had adjusted its sales prediction for the German industry upward from 11% to 15% – see Plasteurope.com of 26.10.2010. Although the 2009 slump was less pronounced in Italy, the local plastics machinery association Assocomaplast (Milan / Italy; www.assocomaplast.org) predicts a slightly lower increase of 10% for this year.

Euromap is the umbrella organisation of the different European plastics and machinery manufacturers associations. Its 3,700 member organisations employ some 98,000 workers.