European plastics and rubber machinery makers peg sales growth below 2%

Europe’s plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers anticipate that sales will grow by an average of 1.8% in the current year and in the two years ahead.

“This forecast means that the industry in the member countries of EUROMAP will continue to grow,” reports Luciano Anceschi, President of EUROMAP, the European umbrella organisation for the most important national plastics and rubber machinery association. “Between 2005 and 2015, sales in our countries rose from EUR9.3 billion to EUR13.5 billion, up by a noteworthy 46%, albeit less than the 83% growth recorded worldwide in the same period.”

“At the same time, exports from EUROMAP countries rose by 52%, from EUR6.6 billion to EUR10 billion. Here, the European growth rate was only slightly below the global increase of 56%. For us Europeans, the whole world is our market, whereas in the last decade China was still predominantly serving its own market,” EUROMAP Vice President Dr Karlheinz Bourdon adds.

In 2015, the EUROMAP countries as a whole accounted for 47% of world exports, while China’s share, following a surge in exports, reached 15%.

In the years 2016 to 2018, global sales of plastics and rubber machinery are expected to grow by an average of 3.4%, with China as the main growth driver.

So far as German manufacturers are concerned, the VDMA confirms the forecast made in the spring of 2% growth both this year and next.