VDMA: German plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers continue to show their colours in Iran

the VDMA German Plastics and Rubber Machinery has been organising a Management Meeting for its members in Iran

Teheran, 24 September 2018 – Last year, the export balance for German plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers was positive: In 2017, they gained further market shares in Iran. Whether this trend will continue remains to be seen. Declining deliveries in the first six months of 2018 give reason for cautious hope for the second half of the year.

Germany gains market shares in spite of decreasing export deliveries worldwide

In 2017, global export deliveries of plastics and rubber machinery to Iran had a total value of 206 million EUR. China held the largest share with 99 million EUR. Germany followed on rank two with 38 million EUR. In the previous-year comparison, however, worldwide exports, above all from China, dropped distinctly, while exports from Germany increased. This caused the German market share in Iran to rise, standing at nearly 20 per cent at present. By contrast, the Chinese share of all deliveries decreased considerably, falling to below 50 per cent.

German machinery exports dropped by 11 per cent in the first half of 2018

In the first half of 2018, the German plastics and rubber machinery industry exported to Iran machines valued at 22 million EUR. This corresponds to a downturn of 11 per cent compared to the first six months of 2017. Consequently, in the ranking of major export destinations for Germany, Iran falls from position 25 to 28.

“With growth rates of annually almost 6 per cent for the consumption of plastics, Iran is still considered a high-potential market for the plastics sector,” explains Thorsten Kühmann, Managing Director of VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery. “The increasingly difficult political framework conditions accompanied by still insufficient financing options are showing their effects,” says Kühmann. “We counteract this with continuity by nailing our colours to the mast also in difficult times.”

VDMA Iran Management Meeting – meeting for networking and knowledge sharing

Since 2015, the VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery has been organising a Management Meeting for its members in Iran. This year, almost 20 VDMA member companies met in the run-up to the Iranplast fair, to discuss current issues of association work. Apart from standardisation of digital interfaces for Industry 4.0, Circular Economy in the plastics industry was a further item on the agenda. At the K 2019, the concept of a circular economy will play a central part for the communication of the VDMA and its members.

German joint participation at the Iranplast 2018 clearly reduced

Decreasing export figures for 2018 also have an impact on the size of the German Pavilion at the international trade fair for plastics and rubber Iranplast, which started today. This year, 17 German enterprises will present their innovative products and services at the fair, i.e. the number of exhibitors dropped by more than a half.

About VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery

More than 200 companies are members of the association, covering more than 90 percent of the branch production in Germany. Ten percent of our member companies come from Austria, Switzerland and France. The German member companies represent sales of EUR 7 billion in core machine engineering and EUR 10 billion including peripheral technology. Every fourth plastic machine produced in the world comes from Germany; the export rate is 70 percent. Ulrich Reifenhäuser, Member of the Management Board of the Reifenhäuser Group, is the chairman of the association.