U.S. plastics machinery shipped $228 million in Q3 2007: SPI
Canadian Plastics
Canadian PlasticsU.S. manufacturers and importers of primary plastics machinery and equipment shipped US$228 million worth of primar...
U.S. manufacturers and importers of primary plastics machinery and equipment shipped US$228 million worth of primary machinery, excluding components and auxiliary equipment, in the third quarter of 2007, according to the latest equipment statistics released by the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI).
This third quarter total is two per cent higher than the US$223 million shipped in the second quarter of 2007, but 11 per cent down from the third quarter of 2006, which was the immediate post-NPE trade show period.
“Plastics processors continue to struggle with the high cost of resins and energy, and this has hindered their ability to invest in new equipment,” said Bill Wood, an economist who provided the analysis for SPI’s report. “Plus, total demand for plastics products remains hindered by the sharp declines in both residential construction activity and domestic auto production.”
Overall, however, Wood remained optimistic. “The energy issue notwithstanding, other important indicators portend slow, but steady improvement in the U.S. economy and the plastics industry in 2008,” he said. “We should eventually see a gradual increase in new plastics machinery investment during the second half of 2008.”
The report also concluded that demand for plastics auxiliary equipment registered a total of US$84.3 million, a three per cent increase from the dollar amount booked in the second quarter of 2007; blow molding machinery shipped US$21.2 million in the third quarter of 2007, an increase of nine percent over the second quarter of 2007; extrusion machinery units shipped in the third quarter of 2007 decreased 11 per cent from the number shipped during the same quarter in 2006; and injection molding machinery shipments totaled 745 units in the third quarter of 2007, an increase of three per cent over the number of units shipped in the second quarter of 2007.