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Rubber machinery boom continues into 2008; The machinery boom is continuing. Last year saw further growth in the sector, helped by the weakness of the dollar. The tyre sector remains strong, but the non-tyre sector is recovering. Regionally, North America, West Europe and Japan all saw strong growth over the last year.

Article Excerpt
Byline: David Shaw

A year ago, rubber machinery makers were expecting a slowdown in 2007. They did not get it. Instead, orders have been flooding in, for both tyre machinery and non-tyre equipment.

Business is so good that machinery makers are running out of workshop space, and having significant problems finding bearing, forgings and other hardware needed to complete their equipment.

Overall, ERJ estimates that the rubber machinery business - calculated in US dollars - grew by 17 percent in the last 12 months. Just over half this growth is due to the weakness of the US dollar, while increases in the price of steel and other components have forced machinery makers to increase their own prices, so the volume growth is not quite so spectacular, but all machinery companies ERJ spoke to while preparing this report said the last year had been good for them.

ERJ does not track the difference between tyre and non-tyre sectors, but anecdotal evidence suggests that most of the growth in recent years has been in the tyre sector. ERJ estimates that in 2000 the tyre and non-tyre sectors were roughly equal in size, but this has now shifted in the tyre sector's favour, to around 67-33.

Looking to the future, many companies see strong fundamentals, with global demand for cars and trucks set to...

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