Due to the diverse functions and wide application range of injection molding equipment, it will continue to maintain its most important position in processing machinery, and will occupy two-thirds of the machinery sales market by 2017. According to a recent report by Cleveland Research Group Limited, it is expected that the global plastic processing machinery market will grow at a rate of 6.9% annually, and the global market will reach $37.1 billion in 2017.
China is still the world's largest mechanical equipment market to date, accounting for 29% of the global market in 2012 and will continue to lead global market demand. India will be the fastest-growing country in the world, with a market share of 12% in 2013. According to the global regional market, the central and southern markets in the United States have the fastest growth rate, followed by Africa and the Middle East. It is expected that by 2017, influenced by the development of the global transportation industry, machinery manufacturers in Asia and the Pacific will have the advantage of fast shipping.
In the first three quarters of 2013, the trade deficit between China's import and export of blow molding machines reached 48.76 million US dollars, a significant year-on-year decrease of 72.2%; 47.7% of the top ten imported fields for blow molding machines are modified plastics. Blow molding machines are one of the categories with the largest commercial deficit in the domestic plastic machine market. Extruder is one of the machinery in China's plastic machine foreign trade market, second only to imported injection molding machines. In the first three quarters of 2013, China exported a total of 9262 extruders, worth 238 million US dollars, accounting for 48.2% of the top ten export destinations.
In recent years, with the increasing demand for downstream plastic products, the overall demand for plastic machinery in China's domestic market has steadily increased. According to the 12th Five Year Plan for the development of the plastic machinery industry, the industry is expected to grow by an average of over 12% annually in the next five years, with the total industrial output value and sales of the entire industry reaching over 50 billion yuan. Due to the current lower activity of the domestic market compared to the international market, the domestic situation will encourage more enterprises to enter the international market. It can be expected that in the future, the plastic machinery industry will experience an export boom, and this fierce competition in the domestic market will be transmitted to the international market. At that time, the international market will usher in a trend of fierce competition and rapid growth.
"3D plastic printers will be the fastest growing plastic processing equipment, expanding from a relatively small market to other fields of processing and production. Supported by the rapid growth of the world construction market, sales of extrusion machinery will enter a period of fastest growth," said Cleveland Research Group.
From the perspective of subdivision, in the first three quarters of 2013, China's cumulative imports of injection molding machines to Brazil, Thailand, modified plastics Türkiye, Indonesia, the United States and other places are totally different, limited to $45.44-49.62 million; These five major import regions have cumulatively imported injection molding machines from China, accounting for 34.8% of China's total injection molding machine exports during the same period; Since last year, the import of injection molding machines in China has started to decline, with a decrease of up to 18.1%. Overall, imports have slightly increased, but the year-on-year growth rate is small.
The top three importing countries for injection molding machines in China in 2012 were Thailand, Indonesia, and Brazil. Since the beginning of this year, Indonesia and Brazil have seen weak growth rates, while Thailand has seen a significant decrease of 36.8%. This indicates that the overseas injection molding machine market is gradually developing and becoming stronger, and future investment in injection molding machines and modified plastics overseas needs to be more cautious.
A new study suggests that a better market sales atmosphere is imminent, as seen from the acceleration of fixed investment expenditures and plastic product production. Packaging will be the largest market for plastic processing machinery, expected to exceed one-third of total sales by 2017. The next largest end market will be in the consumer products and construction sectors.