The latest figures from Germany’s statistical office Destatis (Wiesbaden; www.destatis.de) show that producers of rubber and plastics products posted sales in Germany last November of EUR 6.84 bn. This represents an increase of 4.2% compared with the previous month and an increase of 8.7% over November 2020.

Destatis also reports a positive development in the eleven-month period from January to November 2021 – the December figures are not yet available. In that period, total sales of the rubber and plastics processing sector rose to EUR 70.65 bn, equal to an increase of 11.8% over the same period of the previous year. The proportion of exports posted by the 1,886 firms (with 50 or more employees) in this segment rose by 14.2%, which was slightly above the increase in domestic sales, which was up 10.1% at EUR 41.01 bn.

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In the 11 months covered by the report, the subgroup that consists of 375 producers of plastic sheet, film, hoses and profiles recorded growth of 18.6% compared with the same period of the previous year, although manufacturers of plastic building materials (274 companies) and packaging materials (252 companies) also increased their turnover quite significantly. With the economic situation in the building industry picking up again, sales in this sector rose by 15.2% to EUR 7.34 bn, with the share of exports almost exploding – up 36.4% at EUR 1.95 bn. Packaging producers’ sales meanwhile rose by 13.5% to EUR 9.54 bn, with exports, here too, providing an extra boost.

The number of rubber and plastics converters in Germany stood at 1,886, which represented a decline of 3.9% in the first 11 months of 2021. On the other hand, the number of employees fell by only 1.9% to 339,802.