German plastics and rubber machinery exports to Iran rose by a staggering 194% year-on-year in 2015, reaching a total of EUR 17.8m, reports the German association for plastics and rubber machinery VDMA Kunststoff- und Gummimaschinen (KuG, Frankfurt; http://kug.vdma.org). Ahead of the upcoming “Iran Plast” (www.iranplast.ir) fair, held in Tehran / Iran from 13-17 April 2016, the association released its export figures to the country, the sanctions on which were recently lifted (for details, see Plasteurope.com of 13.01.2016). Although last year’s figure is still less than half of the export sales achieved in 2011 – when German machinery makers sent EUR 38.4m worth of material to the country – it is a massive improvement over the EUR 6m generated in 2014.

VDMA says that worldwide figures for 2015 exports of plastics and rubber machinery to Iran are not yet available, but points out that in 2014, the leading supplier to the country was China, which accounted for close to 60% of all deliveries. In value terms, Chinese sales to the Middle Eastern country came to EUR 111.1m in 2014, making up the largest share of the total of EUR 186m. The stark gap between China and the other machinery suppliers becomes evident considering that Iran’s second leading supplier of plastics and rubber machinery, Italy, generated “just” EUR 25.8m in sales in 2014.

Most observers expect Iran to make a strong comeback now that sanctions have been lifted. The country is already shaking up the global oil markets (see Plasteurope.com of 23.02.2016), and if its polymer industry manages to get back on track, orders for machinery will likely rise, too.