NEWS


North American machine sales rise in third consecutive quarter


North American sales of primary plastics machinery rose by double-digits in the fourth quarter of last year – making it the third con- secutive quarter of growth. Statistics from the Plastics Industry Association’s Committee on Equipment Statistics (CES) reveal that the preliminary estimate of shipment value from reporting companies reached almost US$377 million. This was an increase of almost 23% on the previous quarter – which had shown a near-16% increase on the quarter before that. Sales in the fourth quarter


of 2020 also exceeded those from the same period in 2019 by more than 19%. Sales of both single- and twin-screw extruders rose in the final quarter of 2020 – by more than 31% and 4%, respectively.


“The three consecutive


quarters of double-digit increases underscores the importance of plastics machinery – not only in the plastics industry but in the manufacturing supply chain of the economy, consider- ing that most plastics are used in manufacturing,” said Perc Pineda, chief econo- mist at the association. “We were hoping to see an increase in shipments of ma- chinery in the fourth quarter as the economy stayed in the recovery cycle and that’s exactly what we got.” In its fourth-quarter


survey of plastics machinery suppliers, CES said that 96% of respondents expect market conditions to improve or hold steady compared to a year ago. In the previous quarter, just 76% of respondents gave the same answer. For the


Pineda: “We were hoping for an increase in shipments in Q4 and that’s what we got.”


next 12 months, 86% expect market conditions to be steady-to-better – slightly lower than the 90% in the third-quarter survey. Deliveries in December fell by just over 1% (com- pared to the same period in 2019) – a vast improvement on the 11% year-on-year fall from April 2020, said Pineda.


“The growth momentum in plastics end-markets that began in the second half of 2020 is expected to con- tinue through 2021 – which should sustain a steady demand for plastics materi- als and machinery,” he said. Plastics machinery exports in the fourth quarter reached nearly US$361m, an increase of almost 21% from the previous quarter. Imports rose 16% to US$876m, resulting in a US$515m trade deficit. That was almost 13% larger than it was in the previous quarter. Canada and Mexico


remained the top export markets for US equipment suppliers in the fourth quarter. The combined exports to the USMCA trade partners exceeded US$173m – representing 48% of total US exports in Q4. � www.plasticsindustry.org


German converters report 5% sales decline


GKV, the organisation that represents German plastics processors, reported a dip of more than 5% in turnover last year.


It said that sales fell to €61.5 billion


in 2020, a decline of 5.6% compared to 2019. Within the results, domestic sales fell by a similar amount to just over €38bn, while exports fell by more than 6% to just over €23bn. As well as a reduction in turnover,


processing volumes fell by nearly 3% to 14.2 million tonnes of plastic. In the same period, the industry’s workforce saw a 4% reduction, which took headcount to around 322,000 by the end of 2020.


8


German plastics converting, 2020 Sales 2020 (m€) % Change


Domestic Exports Total


38.1 23.4 61.5


-5.5 -5.5 -6.1


The number of processing plants also fell slightly, to just over 3,000 facilities. The statistics are not separated into specific processes (such as extrusion). However, the construction sector – which is likely to account for most pipe and profile extrusion activity – held up well, with a small decline in the amount of material processed (5.2m tonnes,


PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION | March 2021


down from 5.3m tonnes in 2019). At the same time, turnover in the sector declined by 0.2% to around €20.5bn. Construction was the least affected


of all sectors: for comparison, packag- ing turnover fell by more than 2%, technical parts by nearly 12% and consumer products by nearly 9%. In a survey of members, carried out


at the start of this year, GKV said that 52% expect to increase sales in 2021, while 33% anticipate a decline. At the same time, one-third of companies expect profits to increase this year, while half of those surveyed expect profits to fall in 2021. � www.gkv.de


www.pipeandprofile.com


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