German rubber machinery sales to grow 4% in 2015

Frankfurt, Germany – German plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers expect a four-percent growth in sales to exceed €7 billion in 2015, according to the German Engineering Federation (VDMA),

This would represent an acceleration from last year, when the industry’s turnover in core machinery manufacturing reached reach €6.8 billion – around 1 percent up on its 2013 total.

Export figures reflected a “recovery in EU partner countries, with German exports to both the south and the east recording strong growth,” said Ulrich Reifenhäuser, chairman of the VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association.

Poland now ranks third, after China and the US, among Germany’s ten leading customer countries, the figures also showed.

A half-yearly trend survey carried out by the association found that the industry continues to be optimistic for 2015. Sentiment was helped by localised improvements in demand for plastics and rubber machinery in the second half of 2014.

VDMA forecast positive sales for all regions except for eastern Europe, with a return to growth in Latin America and China.

“The association predicts four-percent growth in sales for 2015; that would take the sales volume over the €7-billion mark for the first time,” concluded Reifenhäuser.