Plastics and rubber machinery in Europe: double-digit growth in prospect for 2010

"Demand for our machines has risen sharply in all EUROMAP countries and overall growth of 10 to 15 per cent looks set to be achieved in 2010," said Bernhard Merki, President of EUROMAP, the European Committee of Machinery Manufacturers for the Plastics and Rubber Industries, who was pleased to report on the figures. The leading trade fair K'2010 proved to be key in this respect, given that in the middle of the 2009 economic crisis, all the most important manufacturers in the EUROMAP association registered to take part as exhibitors. "I am glad to say that the hope voiced a year ago that K'2010 would mark a return to a positive trend in European plastics and rubber machinery manufacturing was well-founded," Bernhard Merki added.

The annual results for 2009 were more than sobering for the countries of the EUROMAP association with output falling to 13 258 million euro, down by 24.5 per cent compared with the record high achieved in 2008. The dramatic fall in incoming orders began in the fourth quarter of 2008 and continued into the summer months of the following year.

The sharpest decline was recorded in core machinery manufacturing, where output in value terms fell by 30.2 per cent. Peripheral equipment was 27.7 per cent below the previous year's figure. There were smaller percentage drops in output of moulds and dies, down 10.4 per cent, and flexo printing machines, which lagged 10.2 per cent behind the previous year's result.

The EUROMAP countries accounted for 45.5 per cent of the global market in terms of output of core machinery in 2009, down from the 50.3 per cent recorded the previous year. Global output fell by only 22.8 per cent in 2009, as a result of extensive state infrastructure investments in China which enabled machinery manufacturers in that country to make a fairly quick recovery from the slump.

With a few exceptions, demand on the markets supplied by European plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers was weak in 2009. All the major sales regions retrenched at more or less the same time - something the industry had not experienced before. Although exports to Asia soon picked up again, it was not enough to offset the losses suffered on other markets. This was clearly reflected in the annual results, with the EUROMAP countries' exports lagging 29.5 per cent behind the previous year's record figures; exports in value terms fell to 8 797 million euro.

Core machinery also bore the brunt of the decline in exports, recording a drop of 33.7 per cent, down by one third on the previous year.

The EUROMAP countries' share of world exports of plastics and rubber machinery (core machinery manufacturers) contracted, declining from 56.9 to 52.5 per cent in 2009.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, about one year after the sharp downturn, all member countries finally began to see the first signs of recovery. This trend has continued apace in 2010, actually speeding up as the year has progressed.

Orders are coming from the countries of Europe and Asia in particular - with China and India continuing to set the pace - but demand from Brazil and Mexico is also rising sharply again.

The trend in exchange rates is currently a source of concern for Europe's plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers, with the relatively strong euro in particular making transactions invoiced in US dollars more expensive.

In the spring of this year, on the basis of rising demand the EUROMAP countries had made cautious forecasts of weighted growth in output of over 6 per cent. Given that the high growth rates have been sustained over the summer, they are now expecting an increase of between 10 and 15 per cent for the year as a whole.

The countries of the EUROMAP association expect output to continue to grow next year as well.