Market Dynamics
German plastics machinery producers lower sales forecast
Time: 2014-06-25 Source from: www.pnchina.com
The VDMA association of German plastics and rubber machinery producers has revised its 2014 sales forecast downwards to 3 percent, after a previous optimistic forecast at the K 2013 last year that turnover would rise 6 percent in 2014.
The revision still points to sales of 7 billion euros ($9.4 billion) in 2014 and is expected to be followed in 2015 by 4 percent growth to 7.3 billion euros ($9.8 billion).
The association's chairman Ulrich Reifenhäuser presented the 2014 forecast and 2013 results at VDMA's annual members conference in Düsseldorf on June 13.
There is a mixed picture in terms of the level of incoming orders that were reported in January-April 2014 compared with the same period in 2013. Orders grew by 6 percent overall, but this figure arises from strong 19 percent growth in both Germany and the Eurozone, while growth in orders from outside Germany was poor at just 3 percent. Non-Eurozone European orders were down 1 percent.
Reifenhäuser presented a curve of order intake and turnover in the period 2005-2014 that shows much less volatility since 2011. He said this phenomenon showed "a really stable and successful phase" for the industry.
The worldwide production value of core plastics and rubber machinery rose 2.6 percent to a new record of 30.6 billion euros ($41.4 billion) in 2013, with China accounting for the largest 30.4 percent share, compared with Germany at 22.2 percent (up a little from 21.9 percent in 2012). Italy slipped for the fourth consecutive time since 2009 from an 8.3 percent share to 8.1 percent, but the U.S. share increased slightly from 6.4 percent to 6.6 percent in 2013.
Due to the importance of the domestic market for Chinese producers, Germany held its position as the top exporting country in 2013, with a 24.5 percent share of 18.9 billion ($25.6 billion) total world exports －－ down 2.5 percent from 19.4 billion euros ($26.2 billion) in 2012. China was second with 12.3 percent, followed by Japan 9.9 percent, Italy 9.1 percent and the U.S. 5.7 percent, having lost some share compared with 6.1 percent in 2012.
Germany machinery exports increased 4.3 percent to a value of 4.6 billion euros ($6.3 billion) in 2013, with China the main destination and driving market at 856 million euros ($1.1 billion), a 33.7 percent increase from 2012. China was followed by the U.S. at 630 million euros ($853 million), up 15.5 percent.