Looking at the export towards ASEAN countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mynamar, Philippine, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) of the main manufacturers of plastics and rubber machinery, in the last three-year period, it is possible to see opposite trends and even a common denominator. For all competitors 2009 resulted decreasing with respect to 2008 – with different rates ranging from -34% of Italy and -6% of Germany to -16% of Japan and -1% of China – whilst the trend in the period 2007-2009 gave two positive and two negative marks. As a matter of fact, sales of Germany and China record an average growth (respectively +11 and +17%) whilst those of Italy and Japan suffer a decrease (2 and -8%).
Japan, even loosing market shares, is still the main supplier of the ASEAN countries, with an export value of almost 525 million euro in 2009; at second place we find China, exceeding 320 million, then Germany with about 185 million and Italy, just below 45 million.