VDMA: German Packaging Machinery in good shape
The German packaging machinery companies are satisfied with the development of the industry. This can be seen in the survey about the economic situation conducted by the VDMA in October 2015.
Since the previous survey of spring 2015, the situation has continued to develop in a stable way. This is also supported by the new orders. In the first 10 months of this year, the order intake for packaging machines (excluding drinks packaging machines) shows an increase of 3.4 percent over the previous year. Impetus here came primarily from Germany (plus 15.2 percent), while foreign orders were slightly above the previous year's level (plus 1.2 percent). There, more orders came from the euro-partner countries (plus 7.3 percent) while the demand from non-euro countries remained at the same level. Turnover shows an increase of 4.5 percent during the period from January to October 2015.
For the first time since the global financial and economic crisis in 2009, the export business, in which the German manufacturers of food processing and packaging machinery achieve almost 86 percent of their revenue, has declined. In the first nine months of 2015, exports fell by nearly 3 percent below the previous year's figure, now reaching 3.7 billion euros. Here in particular, the lack of new orders from Russia in 2014 become very apparent. In the first nine months, the German packaging machinery exports to Russia fell by 41 percent down to 128 million euros. Among the main export markets of German packaging machinery manufacturing the country thus lost its 3rd place, which it had held since 2010, and now ranks sixth.
Among the top 10 sales markets, the German companies see export growth in the US and France, each with plus 9 percent to 434 and 199 million euros, Poland (plus 35 percent; 139 million euro), Switzerland (plus 7 percent; 127 million euros), Spain (up 14 percent; 104 million euros) and Brazil (plus 14 percent; 105 million euros). At the end of the third quarter of 2015, exports to China, the second most important single market after the United States, fell by almost 1 per cent below the previous year's figure and are now at EUR 337 million.
Outlook
The outlook for the packaging machinery industry remains basically positive. Now as in the past, it has tended to be less affected by political or economic crises than other engineering sectors. The companies expect the demand to increase in almost all regions, in the coming months. In the USA, the largest single market, the investments continue to be at a high level. Strong impulses also come from Latin America and the Middle East. The major foreign trade fairs in Russia, the USA and the United Arab Emirates also showed positive signs, particularly in the second half of the year. Against this background, the industry expects a sales growth of 5 percent in 2015. By comparison, the entire mechanical engineering industry in 2015 expects a zero growth rate.
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