Slowdown follows year of strong growth in France

London - This year has seen a marked business-slowdown in the French rubber industry, following a 2017 resurgence across the country’s tire and industrial rubber products sectors, SNCP (Syndicat National du Caoutchouc et des Polymères) has reported.

While production volumes across both product types grew by just 1% last year, this nevertheless represented a significant improvement on previous years, according to the national industry association.

Indeed, it said, growth figures for sales, exports, margins and investment were probably the best recorded for the rubber industry for many years.

For 2017, 64% of industrial rubber companies reported an increase in production volumes; up from just 55% the year before. A similar improvement was reported in terms of sales last year.

Likewise, at the start of 2018, early two third of businesses reported growth in both volumes and pricing. Such positivity, said SNCP, has not been seen since 2011 as the industry rebounded from the global financial crisis.

Since early 2018, however, the business situation for French manufacturers has reversed, so that by the end of June rubber-parts production volumes were just about on a par with prior-year levels.