VDMA, Germany's plastics & rubber machinery trade association, has highlighted the importance of the Iranian market ahead of the Iranplast trade show, to be held Sept. 24-27 in Tehran.
At nearly 38 million euros, Germany came second to China in terms of machinery exports to Iran in 2017, posting 87.3 percent growth compared to the previous year.
However, for the first six months of 2018, German plastics & rubber machinery exports to the country came in at just 15.4 million euros – 30.9 percent lower than in last year's first half.
The sudden decline reflected U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to break from an international nuclear agreement and reimpose economic sanctions on Iran in May.
Overall, Iran's import of plastics & rubber machinery fell 13.4 percent year-on-year in 2017 to 205 million euros.
China continued to lead the table of rubber and plastics machinery exporters to Iran by a high margin at 99 million euros, despite registering a 33.7 percent decline compared to 2016.