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K Show 2025 China Sells Many More Machines for Plastic Production

Source: dpa 2 min Reading Time

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VDMA e.V. Kunststoff- und Gummimaschinen
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In the plastics industry, China has caught up in seven-league boots in recent years and put Europe's SMEs under pressure.

Around 3,200 exhibitors are expected at the K trade fair - most of them from the mechanical and plant engineering sector.(Image: Düsseldorf Trade Fair / tillmann)
Around 3,200 exhibitors are expected at the K trade fair - most of them from the mechanical and plant engineering sector.
(Image: Düsseldorf Trade Fair / tillmann)

At the start of the K plastics trade fair in Düsseldorf/Germany, the German mechanical engineering association VDMA published figures showing that China's market share in global sales of machinery for the production of plastics and rubber has grown from four percent in 2000 to 32 percent in 2024.

Meanwhile, Europe's share fell by five percentage points to 43%. Germany accounts for around half of European business. "We have lost bread-and-butter business to China," said Ulrich Reifenhäuser from the VDMA. The Chinese have been very successful in recent years, "that is really remarkable".

However, the main focus there is on standard machines. "They are good at that and are getting better and better," says Reifenhäuser. However: "The real high-tech machines still come from Europe." He cited complex special machines for multilayer films as an example. According to the VDMA, the value of European production of plastics and rubber machinery amounted to 17.7 billion euros in 2023, half of which came from Germany.

USA Weak

The USA, on the other hand, dropped from 18 to seven percent in the statistics. "The USA has forgotten how to build competitive machines - for them, things are going downhill all the time." The weakness of American manufacturers is an opportunity for German machine manufacturers, says the industry representative. His company Reifenhäuser has machines in its range that are used to produce plastic film used for packaging, such as yogurt pots. Reifenhäuser has around 1,500 employees and its headquarters are in Troisdorf near Bonn.

Around 3,200 exhibitors will be showcasing their products and services at the K trade fair, with more than 180,000 visitors expected—more than at the last edition in 2022. This year's K will run from Wednesday to the following Wednesday (October 15).

A major issue is the production of plastic that is not made from fossil raw materials but from processed plastic waste. According to the industry association Plastics Europe, the proportion of so-called recycled materials was recently just under 20 percent,

In 2023, the figure was 2 million tons. This mainly relates to recyclates from mechanical recycling. "Fossil" plastic accounted for more than 80 percent, or 9.3 million tons. Niches with around 0.1 million tons each are plastic from chemical recycling and bio-based plastic, for example from algae.

According to Plastics Europe, around 30 percent of plastics in Germany are used for packaging, 24 percent in construction and 11 percent in vehicles, for example for cladding in car interiors. A lot of furniture is also made of plastic.

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