For the fifth consecutive quarter, plastics machinery shipments in North America continued to increase in the second quarter of 2018, according to the statistics compiled and reported by the Plastics Industry Association’s Committee on Equipment Statistics.
Auto sales growth has also slowed down markedly in the U.S. and Mexico, a new report from Scotiabank says.
Adoption of composite-grade HPPs could take the global market past US$3 billion by 2024, a new study by Frost & Sullivan says.
Trade policy uncertainty is causing pessimism across the automotive supply base, despite a strong sales and production environment, a new survey conducted by the Original Equipment Suppliers Association says.
Rising demand across several vertical industries, such as packaging and food and beverages, is expected to drive growth, the new report from BCC Research says.
The Canadian automotive parts maker – which has manufacturing operations in all three NAFTA countries, China and throughout Europe – reduced its estimate for total sales in 2018 by 1.4 per cent from its previous outlook.
The drop was led by poor Fiat-Chrysler sales, which recorded their worst month since early-2014.
But cracks are beginning to appear in certain emerging economies, a new report from Scotiabank says, and the threat of rising U.S. protectionism seems to have impacted vehicle sales in China.
Record sales driven by nine per cent consumables growth highlights a solid second quarter, the company said.
According to the Q2 2018 Automotive Tooling Barometer, both die and mold shops in North America experienced a decrease in utilization from Q1 2018 to Q2 2018, with a significant amount of business being pushed to the second half of the year.
The preliminary estimate of shipments of primary plastics equipment (injection molding and extrusion) for reporting companies totaled US$333 million in the first quarter – 15 per cent higher than the total US$290 million in Q1 of 2017.
Propelled partly by demand for drainage bags, the market for medical fluid bags is set to surpass US$4.4 billion by 2024, according to research from Global Market Insights
But sales in the U.S. continue to beat expectations on the back of strength in trucks, Scotiabank’s new report says.
Charges for many imported vehicles will be cut from 25 per cent to 15 per cent, the country’s Finance Ministry said.
The size of the North American automotive plastics market shows steady gains, the report from Global Market Insights Inc said, and is expected to exceed US$5 billion by 2024.
The automaker said the changes, meant to improve profitability, include getting rid of all cars for the North American market except for the Mustang sports car and Focus crossover.
The federal agency says sales were up in 14 of 21 industries, representing 72.2 per cent of the manufacturing sector.
Automotive tooling demand looked strong through the first quarter of 2018, although payment times are getting longer, a new report from Harbour Results Inc. and the Original Equipment Suppliers Association says.
And driven by increasing production and the growth of government regulations, the global market for instrument clusters will be worth US$9.02 billion in 2018, the report from MarketsandMarkets says.
North America is expected to become second largest market for Clariant with about $2 billion turnover forecasted by 2021.
