NEWS
Polypipe upbeat on trading
In a trading update issued in December, UK-based pipe manufacturer Polyp- ipe said its performance at the end of last year “exceeded expectations”. Revenue in November was 8% higher than the corresponding period in 2019, with residential markets performing particu- larly well, it said. Operating margins continue to increase, though were still not back to “normal” levels, said the company. Polypipe now expects underlying operating profit for 2020 to be around £40 million (US$54m), com- pared to the current consensus range of £35m-37m. “We enter the new year
with a strong order book and some cautious optimism,” said the company. �
www.polypipe.com
Plastics associations say market ‘on turn’
Germany’s plastics and rubber machinery industry association, VDMA, said in December this year’s downward trend in orders has flattened out with evidence of an upturn in September and October 2020 (the latest months for which figures are available). Like every other part of the economy, the plastics machinery industry was badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, VDMA said the situation began to improve in mid-2020 and, cumula- tively, from January to October 2020, incoming orders were just 3% below the first ten months of 2019. It said September saw a 13% year-on-year growth in incoming orders, with order books for October standing at twice the level of the same period in 2019. “This means the German
still expected to end up 10-15% down on 2019, as these lag well behind orders. However, for 2021 and 2022 the association expects to see respective sales growth of 5% and more than 10%, setting the industry on the path to return to pre-crisis levels in 2023. Meanwhile, Plastics-
VDMA Managing Director Thorsten Kühmann
plastics and rubber machin- ery industry is about to turn the corner,” said Thorsten Kühmann, VDMA Managing Director. “It gives us confidence to see that companies have adapted to the challenges better and better over the course of the pandemic. Business is up and running again.” Total sales for 2020 are
Europe’s latest annual report, ‘Plastics: The Facts 2020’, has identified similar trends in production and demand for materials. After a “sharp drop” in the first half, it said production started to recover in the second. “We expect the recovery to continue in the last quarter of 2020 and during 2021, while pre-crisis levels of production will probably not be reached before 2022,” the associa- tion said. �
www.vdma.org �
www.plasticseurope.org
Plast/NPE shows hit by coronavirus
The ongoing Covid pandemic continues to impact the global plastics exhibition calendar, with NPE, the biggest show in the US, now cancelled and Italy’s Plast fair post- poned.
US-based Plastics Industry Association, organiser of
NPE, announced earlier this month that it had decided to cancel the event, which takes place every three years and was due to take place in Orlando in Florida on 17-21 May this year. The US show typically attracts close to 55,000 visitors and more than 2,000 exhibitors. Meanwhile, in late December last year, Plast show
organiser Promaplast announced that the 2021 event in Milan, Italy, was to be rescheduled from 4-7 May to 22-25 June. The show also takes place on a three-year cycle and attracts around 50,000 visitors. �
www.npe.org �
www.plastonline.org
8 PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION | January/February 2021
www.pipeandprofile.com
IMAGE: VDMA
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