Bookmark 06-10-2008

German Plastics and Rubber Machinery: Good Year 2007

The Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association within the German Engineering Federation VDMA reports a good year 2007 for the German machinery industry. The output of the German plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers passed the five billion mark (5.2 billion EUR) for the first time, an increase of 7.5 % compared with the previous year. The total volume of orders received in 2007 was up by 21 % on the previous year’s level, domestic orders rising by 21 % and export orders by 22 %.

Recording an increase of 6.5 %, export deliveries of German plastics and rubber machinery rose to 3.8 billion EUR. The export ratio stood at 72.8 %. As far as the ranking of export markets is concerned, the U.S., China and Russia continued to take the first three places in 2007. Italy, recording an increase of 40.8 %, moved up to fourth place, followed by France and Poland.

Global output of plastics and rubber machinery rose by 6.5 % in 2007 to a total of 21 billion EUR (2006: 19.8 billion EUR). German manufacturers increased their share of this output to 24.9 %, maintaining the level of the previous two years. China ranks second, accounting for a 15.2 % share of global output, followed by Italy with 12.8 %, the U.S. with 7.9 % and Japan with 7.2 %.

Global exports in 2007 totalled 15.3 billion EUR. Accounting for 24.9 % of this, German manufacturers were the industry’s world export leaders again last year. The Italian manufacturers took second place with a share of 12.3 %, ahead of Japan with 10.8 %, China with 6.9 % and the U.S. with 6.4 %.