The global production volume of plastic and rubber machines has reached a new high, according to European industry association Euromap (Frankfurt, Germany; www.euromap.org). The group said global production in 2021 grew 13% to EUR 38.6 bn.

However, European manufacturers of plastics and rubber machinery continued to lose market share with below-average growth of 11%. This knocked back their piece of world production to 40%; in 2008 it was still estimated at 50%.

China, on the other hand, continued to grow and enjoyed a 15% increase in the value of its output in 2021. Machine makers there also pushed ahead with exports, with shipments surging more than 29% to EUR 5.7 bn, making the People’s Republic the industry’s world champion exporter for the first time. Germany dropped back to second place on a 9.4% increase to EUR 5.2 bn.

“In the medium term, companies in Europe will have to prepare themselves for a significantly higher price level, as raw materials and energy in particular, have become much more expensive,” Euromap president Luciano Anceschi said. “At the same time, the situation in the supplier market is causing problems, plus, due to the increased uncertainty resulting from the war in Ukraine, processors are holding back on investments and therefore on new orders for machine manufacturers.”

He warned that 2022 could be problematic. “We have benefited from Covid, but now we have to brace ourselves for the fact that a saturation effect has occurred in large parts of our customer industries, and further growth will be difficult to achieve this year under the current conditions.”

European plastics and rubber machine manufacturers are looking forward to October’s K 2022 trade fair in Dusseldorf, Germany. One focus is on technical innovations, especially on topics such as the circular economy and digitalisation. Euromap is also attaching particular importance to OPC Unified Architecture, or OPC UA, as a kind of world machine language.