LONDON—China-based manufacturers of tire and rubber machinery have reported a sales-drop of almost a third in 2015, compared to the previous year.
Figures supplied by the China Rubber Machinery Association put sales for the 18 largest equipment makers at $1151.7 million, 31 percent lower than the prior year figure.
The trend included sales-declines averaging almost 40 percent across last year's top four Chinese manufacturers: Mesnac, Yiyang Rubber & Plastics, Dalian R&P Machines and Saferun Machinery.
Last year's ERJ Machinery Survey noted that the Chinese tire and rubber machinery sector had outperformed the global sector: managing a year-on-year sales increase of over 11 percent despite the emergence of several negative market factors.
This year's figures from the CRMA indicate that these factors, particularly overcapacity and the U.S. imposition of tariffs on tire imports from China, have really started to bite.