In all likelihood, 2009 will prove to be a very weak year for Germany’s exports of plastics and rubber processing machinery to Russia. From January to August 2009, sales shrank to EUR 90m – almost half the amount achieved during the same time frame in 2008. It remains to be seen in how far the year’s remaining four months will be able to change this picture.

Still, Russia remains the third most important market for German plastics and rubber machinery. From a Russian point of view, Germany even tops the list of supplier countries for Russia’s plastics and rubber converters. In terms of ranking, Germany’s share in this market stands at 37.1%, followed by Italy at 21.1% and China at 9.2%. Overall, global exports to Russia amounted to a total of EUR 631.5m in 2008 – 8.7% below the preceding year.

German deliveries of plastics and rubber machinery to Russia
	Sales (in 1,000 EUR)	Year-on-year change (%)	Share of global exports to Russia (%)
2004	162.934	57,1	38,9
2005	179.999	10,5	41,7
2006	218.358	21,3	39,5
2007	242.113	10,9	35,1
2008	234.261	-3,2	37,1
2009*	(90.700)*	(-47,8)*	-

* January-August, Source: VDMA / Country data