Market Analysis
Introduction
Plastics and rubber industry is closely connected to products of daily consumption as well as to various industries, such as national defense, transportation, textile, electronics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, automobiles, aviation, medical equipment, and food processing. Plastics and rubber can sometimes serve as alternatives to metal, ceramic, glass, and wood. Being indispensable to each individual's daily existence, the annual consumption of plastics is indexical to the living standard of a developed country.Major Suppliers and Their Market Share
The most important plastics and rubber machinery suppliers of the world, ranking by significance, are Germany, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, and Switzerland. Amongst these countries, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Taiwan are four countries of greatest importance when it comes to exporting. Germany and Switzerland dedicates themselves to products of higher price. The United States, instead of exploring markets in other continents, concentrates on the markets in Northern America. In recent years, China has gradually acquired staple customers and gained the advantage of international trading with complementary policy and products at competitive price.According to the statistics from countries producing machinery and products of plastics and rubber, the biggest supplier of the whole world is Germany contributing to a value of 330 million euro in export. Preceded by Germany are Japan and Italy whose value of export fall between 150 and 200 US dollar. Taking up the fourth place in production value, the United States is occupied with the domestic market and the market of Northern America in general. The annual production value of Taiwan hits 110 million US dollar among which the value of export takes up 82%, generating an annual value of 95 million US dollars, putting Taiwan on the fifth place of the ranking. Another significant exporting country is Switzerland whose export value mounts to 80 million Swiss francs.
The Range of the Plastics and Rubber Machinery
Plastics and rubber machines fall in two categories: the thermoplastic and the thermosetting. The materials used for thermoplastic products can be recycled and reused. Generally, plastics for engineering purpose and general use are mostly thermoplastic. In the past, thermosetting materials were unable to be recycled; however, due to the amelioration of manufacturing process and characteristic of the materials, thermosetting products can now partly be recycled. Phenolic, Urea-Formaldehvde, Epoxide Resin, BMC, and Melamin-Formaidehvde are all thermosetting materials.Plastics and rubber processing equipment can be categorized according to its characteristics and functions. Main categories are injection molding machine, vacuum forming machine, extruder, bag making machine, hot forming press, laminating machine, vacuum forming machine, plastic pelletizing recycle machine. In addition to main categories, complementary devices (e.g. dryer, vacuum conveyor, crusher, robotic arms, mixer, and etc.) are also indispensable. The production of complementary, the peripherals, and other tools yield considerable production value.
Production Value of Recent Years
In recent years, plastics and rubber machinery industry has grew in most countries. In 2007, the export of Italy has increased 15.2%. Taiwan has an increase of 4.5% in export counting from the beginning of 2008. China, in 2006, had a significant growth of 35.7%.In 2003, the production value of plastics and rubber machinery of Germany reached 430 million Euros, the production value of the peripherals reached 52 million Euros, and the production value of laminating machines mounted to 18 million euros. The value of export approximately took up 75% of the total. There were 205 manufacturers with membership. And 30,000 people were employed by those manufacturers. In 2003, the annual value of export of Switzerland reached 80 million Swiss francs.
Production Value of Germany's Plastics and Rubber Machinery
In Italy, the industrial installation of plastics and rubber machinery started from the northern part of the country. Currently, 300 major manufacturers along with a number of 1,300 employees reside in the central and northern Italy. Observing its configuration, Regione Lombardia is the center of the plastics and rubber machinery industry. Many Italian manufacturers devote themselves to the design of the machinery and leave the parts and the peripherals to the OEM manufacturers. 33.6% of the manufacturers produce injection molding machines, 25.5% press molding machines, 6.5%vacuum forming machines, another 5.5% make plastic pressure machines, the rest 28.9% of the manufacturers produce machines of other types. In 2000, the total production value accumulated to 330 million US dollars. The value of export reached 190 million, taking up 67% of the production value. 58% of the plastics and rubber machinery is exported to Europe, 16% goes to Asia, 21% to the America, and 5% to other regions.
Production Value of Italy's Plastics and Rubber Machinery
The machinery produced by Japan mainly falls into three categories among which plastics processing machines are the most prevalent taking up 53% of the total production. The second goes to injection molding machines contributing 42% to the production value. Another machinery of significance is press molding machinery holding 5% of the total production value. In 1990, a total number of 39,609 pieces were produced generating 55,040 million JPY production value. The production value of 2000 was 44,430 JPY encompassing 19,628 pieces of plastic processing machines with 23,680 million JPY in production value, 17,087 pieces of injection molding machines with 19,220 JPY in production value, and 768 pieces of press molding machines with 1,530 million JPY in production value. The total production value of 2000 increased 18% compared with that of 1999.
Production Value of Japan's Plastics and Rubber Machinery
Plastics and rubber machinery performs relatively well compared with machinery of other types. The industry grew stably from 2003 to 2005. The approximate percentage of total production value of various plastics and rubber machines in 2005 are listed respectively as the following: other press molding machines (1,190 million NTD in production value, 31% of the total), CNC injection molding machines (790 million NTD, 20%), other injection molding machines (750 million NTD, 19%), press molding machines (400 million NTD, 10%), blow molding machines (290 NTD, 8%), vacuum forming machines and other thermosetting machines (160 million NTD, 4%), tire making machines (140 million NTD, 4%), and other machines (150 million NTD, 4%).
Production Value of Taiwan's Plastics and Rubber Machinery
As for China, the plastics and rubber machinery plants are mostly located at the south east coast, the relatively prosperous area of the country, including Guangdong province (about 22%), Zhejiang province is second to Guangdong (about 19%), and the third is Jiangsu province (about 11%). China has an unfavorable balance of trade in imports of plastics and rubber machinery. In addition to the machines produced by domestic factories, the country heavily depends on the imports. In recent years, Taiwan, Japan, and Germany are three major importing countries. The exports have grown significantly in the past few years. Exporting goods mainly goes to South East Asia. Such goods mainly include injection molding machines, circular loom woven bag machines, and laminating machines. In 2005, the percentage of each type of plastics and rubber machine is presented respectively as follows: injection molding machines (35%), plastic pressure machines (25%), vacuum forming machines (5%), and others (35%).
Production Value of China's Plastics and Rubber Machinery (figure)
The Status Quo and the Prospect
Though situated in the unbecoming context of Subprime Mortage financial crisis and of the rising petroleum price, the industry is expected to grow by 10% based on its performance in recent years.Recently, most countries suffer from inflation. In addition to Subprime Mortage and the rising of petroleum price, the economic growth of China after Olympic game is a reference point of world economy.
In the global markets, the US and Europe have been affected by the inflation triggered by Subprime Mortage and the rising petroleum price. The economy of the US and Europe has entered a static phase where prosperity will not revisit within a short time. Though Asian countries have not been greatly affected, the trade in the area has become less substantial. If China's economy stops to grow, Taiwan and other countries depending on exports will consequently be affected seriously.
The rising new markets (e.g. Russia and Latin America), Middle East, and South Asia (e.g. Thailand, India, and etc.) also alter the current status of the industry. The growing demand for plastics and rubber machinery entails the rise of those new markets. However, these rising countries cannot compete with the countries whose manufacturing technology has reached its maturity. As a result, these new markets are especially potential for imports. The petroleum price has dropped recently. The devaluation of the local currencies and the inflation triggered by the investment withdrawn will both be alleviated. Hopefully, the demand of South East Asia will bounce back and the exports to the area will grow gradually. A prosperous future is not out of reach.
The markets have not yet been fully explored. Potential markets include India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Poland, Russia, and etc.. There is still plenty of room for exploration.