Difficulties in India's manufacturing sector are continuing to hit German plastics and rubber machinery exports, with sales to India down 15 percent in the first 10 months of last year, after dropping 25 percent in 2013.
The figures came in a short news release from Germany's plastics and rubber machinery trade group, VDMA, ahead of the Plastindia trade fair, which is scheduled for Feb. 5-10 in the Indian state of Gujarat.
VDMA's figures show that exports from Germany's plastics and rubber machinery sector, the second-largest in the world after China's, dropped to 56.2 million euros ($64.8 million) in the January to October period, down 15.3 percent compared to the same period in 2013.
This comes on top of a 25.9 percent drop in 2013, when German plastics machinery exports fell to 87.1 million euros ($100.5 million), from 117.7 million euros ($135.9 million) in 2012.
Frankfurt, Germany-based VDMA made no comment on the figures but presented data showing that the drop in 2013 is similar to what happened to shipments from other large machinery exporting countries.
Chinese plastics and rubber machinery, for example, saw shipments to India drop 14.4 percent in 2013, to 124.9 million euros ($144.2 million), from 145.8 million euros ($168.3 million) in 2012, VDMA said. China is the largest exporter of plastics and rubber machinery to India, followed by Germany.
The Japanese, the third-largest exporters to India, saw their machinery exports tumble 38.5 percent in 2013, to 49.9 million euros ($57.6 million), from 81.1 million euros (93.6 million) in 2012.
The fourth and fifth-largest exporters of plastics machinery, Taiwan and Italy, saw their shipments to India drop 19 percent and 39 percent, respectively.
Overall, global exports of plastics and rubber machinery to India dropped 25 percent in 2013, to 483.4 million euros ($558.1 million), from 645.1 million euros ($744.8 million) in 2012.
The only country in the top 10 exporters that did not see a drop in 2013 was South Korea, which saw a nominal rise of 0.9 percent, to just over 26 million euros.
Analysts have noted sluggishness in India's manufacturing sector.
The Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, in a December report on manufacturing around Asia, said that in India “ manufacturing growth remains weak and volatile,” although it said there were “faint hints of stability.”
It said it found signs of optimism with economic policies pushed by India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi. MAPI, in Arlington, Va., said growth will accelerate this year, with the industrial production rate of growth rising from 3.8 percent in fiscal year 2014 to 5.8 percent in FY 2015.
VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau e.V.) is a German engineering association that represents other sectors as well plastics machinery.