North American plastics machinery shipments up in Q4 2015: SPI
Canadian Plastics
Economy Plastics ProcessesInjection molding and extrusion equipment shipments increased, the SPI said, but blow molding machinery shipments declined.
North American shipments of plastics machinery rose sharply in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to SPI: the Plastics Industry Trade Association, and in 2015 as a whole annual shipments of plastics machinery increased for the sixth straight year.
According to the latest statistics compiled and reported by SPI’s Committee on Equipment Statistics (CES), shipments of primary plastics equipment (injection molding, extrusion and blow molding) for reporting companies totaled US$390 million in Q4 2015, 29% higher than the total of US$302 million in Q3 of 2015, and 13% higher than the total of US$346 million for Q4 2014. The total value of primary equipment shipments for all of 2015 was US$1.29 billion, the CES report said, which is a gain of 4.8% when compared with the total from 2014.
“Market conditions should remain strong in 2016, but the pace of growth in shipments data is expected to decelerate after six years of strong expansion,” said CES analyst Bill Wood in an accompanying statement. “Since the Great Recession in 2009, the average annual growth rate for the CES shipments data has been a robust 22% per year.”
The shipments value of injection molding machinery rose by 18.2% in Q4 of 2015 when compared with the same period in 2014, CES said. For 2015 as a whole, shipments of injection molding machinery were up 6.4% when compared with the total from 2014.
For extrusion, the shipments value of single-screw extruders increased 16.9% in Q4 of 2015 compared with Q4 of 2014. For 2015 as a whole, single-screw extruder shipments were up 10.1% when compared with 2014. Twin-screw extruder shipments (including both co-rotating and counter-rotating machines) climbed 13.2% in Q4 of 2015 when compared with Q4 of 2014. For 2015 as a whole, shipments of twin-screw extruders decreased 5.3% when compared with 2014, the report said.
On the negative side, the shipments value of blow molding machines dropped 52.9% in Q4 of 2015 when compared with Q4 of 2014. For 2014 as a whole, shipments of blow molding machinery fell 27.5% when compared with 2014, CES said.