Rubber and plastic machinery makers report buoyant business in western Europe

Frankfurt, Germany - The plastics and rubber machinery manufacturing sector experienced better-than-expected performance in the first half of the year, buoyed by a surprise upsurge in orders from western Europe, an industry body has said.

EUROMAP, the committee representing national associations of plastics and rubber machinery makers in nine European countries, said more than half of the respondents to its latest survey reported turnover levels as “good”.

According to the Frankfurt-based committee, 42 percent of western European companies in the industry reported improvements in new orders, which was “significantly” better than expectations at the start of the year.

Eastern Europe showed similar growth, EUROMAP said, which was in line with expectations.

In Asia, 18 percent of surveyed companies showed an improvement even though 26 percent was anticipated by the committee.

China showed the weakest improvement across the global regions with just 20 percent of respondents reporting an improvement.

In the second half of the year, few companies expected deterioration in the present situation, with eastern Europe and North America being the most positively viewed markets and western Europe following closely, while modest improvement was predicted for China.

EUROMAP represents about 3900 companies in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and United Kingdom.