NEWS
Europe’s machine firms see exports on the rise
Plastics and rubber machin- ery makers in both Germany and Italy recorded strong export performances for the first half of 2017, with Germany posting a 3.8% growth year on year and Italy 14.6%. According to the German plastics and rubber machin- ery manufacturers’ associa- tion VDMA, the sector saw 1H exports grow by 3.8% year-on-year to €2.4bn. The strongest markets
were the US, up by 4.2% to €402.2m, and China, where sales increased by 19.2% €310.7m. This followed a decline in sales in China in 1H 2016, largely due to German machinery makers setting up their own production locations there. Favourable exchange rates also boosted this year’s China figures. Mexico was also a strong
export market in 1H, up by 26.4% to €137.4m, and there was also good growth in the smaller markets of Russia, up 43.4% to €59.3m, and Brazil, up 78.2% to €35.3m. However, exports to EU countries were down
USA 17%
China 13%
Mexico 6%
Others 41%
Poland 4% France 3.5% Italy 3.5% India 3%
Czech Republic 3% UK 3% Spain 3%
German plastics & rubber machinery, export markets, % (H1, 2017) – Total = €2.4bn Source: VDMA
by 6.1% to €848m due to weaker performances in the important markets of Poland, France and Italy. Meanwhile, Italy’s plastics and rubber machinery association Amaplast (formerly known as Assoco- maplast) said 1H exports were up by by 14.6%. Sales within the main EU market were 20% up on 1H 2016 and in Russia more than doubled from €21m to €50m. The Americas were 10% up, mainly due to a strong performance in Brazil. NAFTA countries saw only
modest growth while Asia was stagnant, with China 12% down. Saudi Arabia and Iran were also weak. Amaplast president Alessandro Grassi said that Italian machinery makers also enjoyed “a parallel recovery in the domestic market, sustained in part by the stimulus measures implemented by the Italian government to support investment by manufactur- ers within an “Industry 4.0’ approach.” ❯
www.vdma.org ❯
www.amaplast.org
DowDuPont invests in China
DowDuPont Transportation & Advanced Polymers, a business segment of the DowDuPont Specialty Products division, is to invest $42m at its Shenzhen compounding site in southern China, which was opened in June last year. This investment is said to be needed to meet demand for engineered polymers in the automotive, consumer and electronics
16 COMPOUNDING WORLD | November 2017
markets, according to DowDuPont. The company said it will add three new
production lines by Q2 2019, with the aim of being fully operational by the end of the year. The new equipment will make special- ity resins including Zytel brands of PA, high temperature PA and speciality PA, and Hytrel TPE. ❯
www.dow-dupont.com
NEWS IN BRIEF...
Japan’s Asahi Kasei officially opened its Europe R&D Centre at Dormagen in Germany last month. An internal unit of Asahi Kasei Europe, which also includes the Engineering Plastics Technical Centre that opened in February, the R&D centre will undertake technical service and application development for European customers. It will also conduct joint R&D with companies and universities. ❯
www.asahi-kasei.eu
Drilling and abrading tests carried out by Vito of Belgium for single wall nanotube maker OCSiAl show that no free-standing or protruding SWNTs are released when materials containing them are mechanically stressed in typical use simulations. The tests also showed that nanotube-formulated materials release up to 35% fewer micro-size particles than control materials. ❯
www.ocsial.com
US resin and compound distributor Polysource has opened a new warehouse just outside Boston in Massachussetts to service customers in New Eng- land. It is the Kansas City-headquartered company’s second warehouse on the east coast and its 11th
facility
across the country. It will be used to warehouse customer materials to enable it to offer leadtimes of less than two days. ❯
www.polysource.net
www.compoundingworld.com
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