Extrusion 7-2018

Some of the sources of this performance may be found in the positive trend in the Italian packaging industry – the prin- cipal consumer of plastic raw materials and processing ma- chinery – as also determined by the Italian Packaging Ma- chinery Manufacturers Asso- ciation (Ucima), which ob- served growth of over 14% in 2017 for packaging companies in the domestic market, with the results for the current year also expected to show positive per- formance. The principal supplier country for the Ita- lian plastics and rubber processing indus- try is Germany, which has significantly improved its leading position with re- spect to January to June 2017, widening its gap over China, in second place. Germany also maintains its status, one which it has held for decades, as the main destination for Italian exports in the sector, evidencing the continuing faith of German customers in Italian-made tech- nology. A broad look at the geography of ex- ports shows: • The primacy of Europe as a whole, with some 61% of the total, re- maining substantially un-varied with respect to the first half of 2017, with growth over other mar- kets measured in decimals. This sta- sis is mainly due to a falloff of sales to Russia (-32%) after the hope-in- spiring recovery in 2017; enthusi- asm has definitely waned in the first half of this year. • Good performance in exports to the three NAFTA countries (+7%), placing North America in se- cond place among export destinati- ons, counterbalanced to some ex- tent by the overall contraction of Central and South American mar- kets. • An overall slowdown in Asia (-6%), mainly deriving from weak sales in the Middle East. • Positive progress in Africa (+23%), thanks to increased sales both to Mediterranean and sub-Sa- haran countries. 24 Branche Intern Extrusion 7/2018 Ther formance ILLIG.de ➠ AMAPLAST www.amaplast.org ... for Italian Manufacturers of Machinery, Equipment and Moulds for Plastics and Rubber n Italian imports of plastics and rubber processing machinery racked up an im- pressive 23% increase in the first half of 2018 with regard to the same period in 2017. On the other hand, we must make us of fractions to describe growth in ex- ports, evidencing the lacklustre perfor- mance heralded in the early months of the year. While still well into the black at over one billion euros, the balance of trade has bogged down somewhat, losing over 7%. This is the situation captured by the sta- tistical studies centre of Amaplast based on foreign trade data published by ISTAT. The dynamism of purchases from abroad may be interpreted as renewed faith in the domestic market, mainly due to in- vestment incentives that are likely to be renewed and naturally hoped for by businesses in the industry. Among the main machinery categories, the greatest gains are recorded for im- ports of injection-moulding machines (+31%) and blow-moulding machines (+75%), accompanied by flexographic printers (+111%) and moulds (+12%). Fast and Slow Lanes in Foreign Trade ... • Weakening (-21%) in the already mo- dest supplies to the distant markets of Oceania. As regards goods categories, positive growth in exports is observed for all prin- cipal types of primary transformation machinery and moulds, which together account for more than half of the sec- tor’s sales abroad. The commercial balance is in the black across the board, with the sole exception of injection-moulding machines, which have slipped into negative territory by about 14 million euros. Amaplast President Alessandro Grassi comments on the most recent end-of- period sentiment survey completed at the beginning of September by the asso- ciation’s statistical studies centre: “The July order books for Amaplast member manufacturers are stable with a slight trend toward improvement – with res- pect to both June 2018 and July 2017 – and this gives us reason to hope for a re- bound in production and exports in the last quarter of the year.” Comprehensive digital resource explains fundamentals of plasticating equipment n A wide-ranging new resource for ex- trusion and injection molding processors covers all aspects of plasticating systems, with explanations of every type of screw, barrel, and front end component, includ- “Plasticating Essentials”