LONDON—Suppliers of equipment to the rubber and tire industries, in general, fared less well in 2015 than the previous year and have become more cautious and selective about their investment plans going forward, according to European Rubber Journal's 2016 Machinery Survey.
ERJ is a sister publication of Rubber & Plastics News.
HF has regained its position as the world's largest rubber machinery company, replacing Mesnac, which knocked HF off its long-held top spot in 2015. Holding steady in third slot is VMI, though all of the top three players have reported sales declines in 2015.
A look at companies that reported in the last two ERJ Machinery Surveys shows that sales fell 2.8 percent across the rubber and tire machinery sector in 2015. Combined sales for this 40-strong group of companies came in at $3,565.6 million, compared to the prior-year $3,657.2 million.
This marks a considerable reverse from last year, when the same like-for-like comparison registered a 10.3 percent increase in sales compared to 2013.
The decline noted for 2015 principally reflected a slump in sales among Chinese-based machinery companies, which was only partly offset by gains elsewhere, North America in particular.