Iran rubber & plastics machinery market bouncing back

Frankfurt, Germany – The lifting of Western trade sanctions on Iran is reflected in exports of rubber & plastics machinery to the Islamic Republic, figures from the VDMA Plastics and Rubber Machinery Association show.

Issued ahead of the Iran Plast exhibition, 13–17 April in Tehran, the German VDMA data shows that China is by far the top exporter of polymer processing machinery to Iran with sales of €111.1 million in 2014 – a 59.7-percent market share.

In distant second place is Italy with sales of €25.8 million (13.8 percent of the market), followed by Taiwan’s €13.0 million (7 percent) and Turkey with €11.1 million (6 percent).

Interestingly, sales levels recorded for the top three exporting countries more than doubled in 2014 compared to the previous year, as did sales from several other countries.

The stymieing effect of sanctions, which have only recently been lifted, can clearly be seen in the low sales levels of plastics and rubber equipment from Germany, France and Japan.

Signalling change, though, German exports increased by almost 200 percent in 2015, compared to the previous year – marking a turnaround from a run of sharp declines since 2011.

(Illustrative lead image, source: VDMA)