VDMA: Asia accounts for more German plastics and rubber machinery purchases than the EUMore than one third of Germany’s total exports of plastics and rubber machinery were supplied to Asia in 2009. - Asia’s share of the total increased from 29.1 to 36.5 per cent - reported VDMA Association Chairman Ulrich Reifenhäuser. In terms of volume, however, exports to Asia fell by 17.2 per cent.
The individual regions of Asia showed different trends. - With growth of 19.6 per cent, exports to Central and South Asia were the only real bright spot on the entire export horizon - added Ulrich Reifenhäuser. Deliveries to South East Asia were only slightly lower than 2008, recording a drop of 3.6 per cent. Those to the Near and Middle East fell by 21.4 per cent, while East Asia was down by as much as 26.2 per cent.
German exports of plastics and rubber machinery fell by 33.9 per cent in 2009. Federal Statistical Office figures show that they amounted to 2 637 million euro. The previous year they had risen by 4.6 per cent to a record total of 3 989 million euro.
The collapse affected the major sales regions and all important markets to much the same extent. In Central America (down 20.6 per cent) the decline was less marked than in the 27 EU countries (down 44.0 per cent), the rest of Europe (down 41.5 per cent), North America (down 38.7 per cent) or South America (down 39.5 per cent).
- What was gained in Asia was lost in the 27 countries of the EU - said Ulrich Reifenhäuser. -Their share was down from 35.0 to 29.6 per cent. The rest of Europe, North America and Africa all recorded slightly lower totals, declining from 13.8 to 12.2 per cent, from 11.6 to 10.7 per cent and from 2.7 to 2.6 per cent respectively. Latin America’s share grew marginally, from 7.1 to 7.2 per cent.
Imports from foreign plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers to their customers in Germany declined by 36.7 per cent to 539 million euro. Import demand had not been as low as this since 2002 and 2003. The German balance of trade surplus in plastics and rubber machinery therefore increased slightly.
