The European market for extruded plastic profiles is gaining ground once again, according to Technoplast Kunststofftechnik (A-4563 Micheldorf; www.technoplast.at), which claims to be the leading producer of moulds and downstream equipment for profile extrusion.Demand from Germany is rising and the country is on its way to regaining its position as the “pacemaker” for Europe, the Austrian company said.

Sales in the UK, the second largest European market, are stabilising at a high level. Growing demand for extruded window profiles is being seen in southern Europe, and the eastern European market, including Russia, continues strong. Upward momentum here is seen as likely to continue for some time before saturation is reached, as was the case in Turkey a few years ago. After the Turkish market was considered practically dead, however, sales rebounded in 2003.

In China, once the land of “perpetual large orders,” the picture is said to have changed dramatically. This is due in part to the need to utilise capacities built up over the past few years, but financial cutbacks made by the government to cool an overheated economy also have stunted any major growth in profiles. Triggered by the Chinese boom, the economies of neighbouring countries have picked up and offer “interesting potential.”

While first signs of recovery are being seen in the US, European producers are still discouraged by the adverse euro-dollar exchange rate and the influx of cheap Chinese imports of extruded profiles as well as tools and machinery. The picture looks brighter in South America, led by Brazil. Rising demand for window profiles is also being reported from Iran. Most of this reflects the country´s involvement in reconstruction work in Afghanistan.