news US Q3 machine shipments fall…
The US Plastics Industry Association’s Committee on Equipment Statistics (CES) reported a year-on-year fall in shipments of plastics machin- ery for Q3 2016, only the second quarterly decrease since the US economy began its recovery in 2010. In all, the association
(formerly called SPI) said shipments of injection moulding, extrusion, and blow moulding equipment by reporting companies were 2.4% down on Q3 2015 and 56.5% down on Q2 2016 at $294.7 million, although shipments were still 4.7% up for the whole of the first nine months of the year. Bill Wood of Mountaintop
Economics & Research, who carried out the research, said
Quarterly US machinery shipments by value 2004-2016
machinery sector outper- formed US industrial machin- ery shipments as a whole and that the outlook for the near future is generally bright, based on assumptions of a steady increase in consumer demand for plastic products. A CES sentiment survey
that making meaningful comparisons on Q4 figures is difficult. “The annual growth rate will continue to moderate in the near-term. But the incentives to invest in new equipment remain strong, and if Congress passes some meaningful corporate tax reform in 2017, they may even improve,” he said. Within the overall total
numbers there were some strong variations; shipments of twin-screw extruders were up 27.6% on Q3 2015 but injection moulding machinery and single-screw extruder values were down 6.0% and 3.8% respectively. Auxiliary equip- ment was fractionally up, while figures were not available for blow moulding machinery. Wood said that the plastics
…while Italy sees recovery
The Italian trade association Assocomaplast, which represents 160 manufacturers of plastics and rubber processing machinery, equipment and moulds, reported that both imports and exports were up over the first three quarters of 2016 by 8.5% and 1% respectively, based on ISTAT data. The improvements came despite weaker markets in much of Europe. “In particular, the recovery
in exports – which historically represent a significant share of national production – is an important signal for Italian manufacturers after the negative performance that had characterised previous months,” said Assocomaplast
www.compoundingworld.com
are fully worthy of note,” he added. Europe, which accounts for
Alessandro Grassi: a record year for exports
President Alessandro Grassi. “2015 was a record year for
foreign sales by Italian manufacturers in the sector. If the recovery is confirmed in the year-end balance sheet, we will see overall values that
58% of Italian plastics machinery exports, saw a near 2% decline on 2015. Demand softened in Germany, the Czech Republic, the UK, Russia and Romania but was compensated by strong growth in Poland, Spain and Portugal. Sales to the NAFTA region almost doubled although this was entirely due to growth in Mexico – the US and Canada saw quite sharp falls. The Middle East and the Far East remained strong, while in Latin America a boom in Argentina partially countered poor sales to Brazil. ❙
www.assocomaplast.org
carried out in Q3 found that 86% of respondents expect US market conditions to remain stable or get better during the next year, up from 77% in Q2. The medical and packaging markets are expected to see strongest growth in demand for plastic products and equipment, while construction and appliances are also seeing improved expectations. However, automotive expecta- tions have slipped a little. ❙
http://plasticsindustry.org
LehVoss opens up China unit
Germany’s Lehmann & Voss has opened Lehvoss New Material (Kunshan), a 2,500 m² production facility for compounds and master- batch application technol- ogy centre in the Chinese city of Kunshan. The move follows a
one-year phase of construc- tion plus installation of the production and laboratory equipment. The plant will focus on Luvocom high- performance compounds and Luvobatch additives and masterbatches. ❙
www.lehvoss.de
January 2017 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 7
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