By David Vink, European Plastics News
Mainz, Germany -- For the first time, China has overtaken Germany to take the majority share in the market for German exports of plastics and rubber machinery, according to a report just issued by the VDMA, the German Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association.
China and Germany have the major shares of 23.5 percent and 22.5 percent respectively, followed by Italy (12.1 percent), the US (6.5 percent) and Japan (4.1 percent).
China is the main export market for German plastics and rubber machinery, with sales there accounting for a 13.5 percent share of all exports at Euro 357 million. The next three largest destinations were the US (Euro 258 million), Russia (Euro 136 million) and India (Euro 131 million).
Exports of German plastics and rubber machinery were lower in all of the top 10 export markets in 2009, except for India with 29.8 percent growth, bringing the country up from 12th position in 2008 to fourth position in 2009.
Asia, with 36.5 percent, has replaced the European Union as the main export region in 2009. The EU has 29.6 percent of this market, while non-EU countries account for 12.2 percent, North America 10.7 percent, Latin America 7.2 percent, Africa 2.6 percent and Australia/Oceania 1.2 percent.
Although China has overtaken Germany in market value, Germany is still the leading machinery exporter with a 24.4 percent share of Euro 10 800 million in exports. China takes just 9 percent -- showing the importance of the Chinese domestic market for Chinese producers.
See a longer version of this story at www.plasticsnews.com
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