First half for Switzerland

The figures that have been recently released by the local statistics office reveal a positive trend for both the flows of the Swiss foreign trade of plastics and rubber machinery.As a matter of fact, after a still declining first quarter, import grew by 8%, thanks to increased purchases of injection moulding machines, 47% from Germany and 23% from Austria.As regards the total import of machines, the main origin countries were Germany, Austria and Italy (this latter for moulds, in particular).The export recorded a growth exceeding 20 percentage points, already performed in the first quarter, in light of the recovery of all types of machines, except extruders that still faced a considerable shrink, despite significant sales to Brasil and India. Remarkable the recovery of export of flexographic printing machines, blow moulding machines and, to a certain extent, injection moulding machines. Regarding the former a 14% quota was provided both to Polish and German processors; as for blow moulding machines, the main destinations were Germany (18% out of the total), Poland (13%) and France (12%) whilst there was a strong acceleration towards China (16% out of the total and some 14 million of Swiss Francs, versus 3 in the first half of 2009 and 2,5 in 2008), Turkey and Brasil.As for the total export of machines, the number one destination country was Germany, holding a 18% share, decreasing by 19%. Then we find China (7%; +178%) and further Italy, as well with a 7% quota and a 40% upswing. Sales to Italy regarded in particular moulds and thermoforming machines.