According to foreign media reports, the Italian plastics and rubber machinery industry is expected to achieve a 5% growth in 2017 according to the Amaplast Association of Rubber & Plastics Processing Machinery Association. Its gross domestic product is expected to hit a record high of 4.5 billion euros (5.4 billion U.S. dollars) 35.2 billion yuan).
Amaplast said in a statement on Dec. 19 that data from Istat of the Italian Bureau of Statistics showed that imports of rubber and plastics machinery and equipment increased by 12% and exports increased by 16% from January to September 2017. Amaplast President Alexandra Alessandro Grassi attributed this increase to 'technological innovation' and 'industrial 4.0 management systems.'
Approximately 70% of all rubber and plastics products in Italy were exported for most of the product range in the first nine months of 2017. Out of them, thermoforming machines increased by 51% and were outstanding; extruders increased by 19% In contrast, monofilaments and multifilaments, as well as models used in foamed products, showed a markedly soft growth over the same period.
Geographically speaking, Europe accounted for 61% of Italian rubber and plastic machinery exports, an increase of 20% .Amaplast said that this increase is mainly due to the substantial growth of sales in Germany, Spain and France, an increase of 25%, respectively, 11% and 15%.
In addition to these three traditional markets, Amaplast also mentioned the 'sustained recovery' of Russia's exports. The data show that Russia's economy grew by 109% and showed a healthy growth trend, so Russia returned to the top 10 of the Italian rubber and plastics machinery Big exit destination 'list.
Italy's exports to the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) increased by 12% despite a decline in Mexico's imports, while exports to the Middle East, on the other hand, saw declines in the two major Middle East markets, Iran and Saudi Arabia, respectively 5% and 34% respectively. "Although the United Arab Emirates and Israel markets were" outstanding, "this is not enough to offset the declining trend in the Middle East as a whole, resulting in an overall 5% decline in the region.
Elsewhere in Asia, the two Far East markets, China and India, continue to show 'negative or very weak growth trends', with exports to China falling by 11% and India by only 1%.
Czech molder Fatra imported five injection molding machines from Italian machine maker Negri Bossi in 2017
Africa accounted for less than 3% of total exports of Italian plastics and rubber processing machinery. However, the report shows that demand in Africa increased by 22%, mainly due to the Mediterranean countries, of which Algeria and Egypt dominate.