Confident Canadians

During the Expoplast exhibition (Montreal, 14-15 November 2012), the president of the Canadian Association of Moldmakers disclosed some figures illustrating the industry's trend. In particular in the last few months, the upsurge of the carmaking industry (vehicle production up by 7% in October) has boosted the demand for moulds from local part manufacturers. In fact, this is the major application market for Canadian mould makers, followed by the packaging industry and the building sector. What is more, converters - a sector including 3200 businesses generating a total turnover of about CAD 26 billion (approx. 20 billion euro) according to the association's figures - also confirm the positive influence of the automotive industry. In addition to this, the expected elimination of customs duties (albeit modest) on imported machinery and equipment and the possibility of a free trade agreement with the European Union have left Canadian converters hoping to see a further increase in their sales. Italian exports of plastics and rubber machinery to Canada in the first half of 2012 narrowly exceeded the 14 million euro mark, against approximately 28 million euro for the whole of 2011. Thus, in the wake of the negative peak of 17 million euro recorded in 2009, a consolidation of the recovery can be now  be expected to take exports back to pre-crisis levels.