After the generally flat sales trends seen last year, respondents to European Rubber Journal's Tire & Rubber Machinery Survey 2024 registered an overall return to strong growth in markets worldwide.
Total sales among respondents replying to the survey both this year and last came in at $3.71 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 18.6 percent—compared to just 1 percent and 20 percent in ERJ's 2023 and 2022 surveys, respectively.
And Mesnac Co. Ltd. held onto the top spot on the annual rankings, with its tire and rubber machinery sales coming in at $606 million, up 29 percent from the prior year. That widened the gap on No. 2, VMI Group B.V., which kept its slot with $487 million, an increase of 16 percent on the year.
Rounding out the top 5 in the ERJ rankings were HF Group at No. 3, with $452 million in machinery revenues; Troester GmbH & Co. K.G. at $281 million; and Safe-Run Machinery Co. Ltd. with $252 million.
The rebound recorded in this year's survey was despite continuing challenges linked to global geopolitical and trade tensions, such as the crises in the Middle East and Red Sea, and Russia's continuing war on Ukraine.
Analysis shows that the positive trends, in part, reflect developments in China, as sales of Chinese-based rubber machinery manufacturers increased by 12 percent from 2023 to $1.61 billion.