Machinery Shipments Contract in the Second Quarter

The Plastics Industry Association’s (PLASTICS) Committee on Equipment Statistics’ (CES) preliminary estimate of shipment value from reporting companies totaled $320.9 million in the second quarter, down by 4.2% following an 11.1% decrease in first quarter. On a year-over-year basis, however, machinery shipments were up 21.2% compared to 2020.

The value of single-screw extruder shipments jumped 33.1% over the first quarter of 2021, but twin-screw extruders and injection molding shipments fell by 24.9% and 4.9%, respectively. Compared to pandemic-shutdown-impacted second quarter of 2020, shipments of injection molding machines and single- and twin-screw extruders were up 19.5%, 37.8%, and 32.3%, respectively.

In a statement, PLASTICS’ Chief Economists Perc Pineda said these numbers reflect ongoing supply chain issues, as new orders have actually been increasing but struggle to be fulfilled. “For the third consecutive quarter, plastics equipment shipments were higher from a year earlier,” Pineda said. “This means that the underlying trend in plastics equipment demand remains upward sloping—still in sync with the robust economic recovery

The CES’ Second Quarter 2021 survey of plastics machinery suppliers found that 92.7% of respondents expect market conditions to either improve or hold steady in the coming quarter. This was slightly lower than the 93.5% of respondents who expressed the same view in first quarter survey. Looking forward, 78.7% expect market conditions to be steady-to-better. This is significantly lower than the 93.0% of respondents in the previous quarter’s survey who were expecting growth in the next 12 months.

Second auarter plastics machinery exports decreased by 6.9% to $367.6 million compared to the first quarter. Mexico and Canada remained the top export markets, with the combined exports to USMCA partners in the second quarter 2021 totaling $177.2 million, accounting for 48.2% of total exports of plastics machinery. Imports rose by 3.5% to $874.0 million resulting in a $506.8 million trade deficit, with the U.S. plastics machinery trade deficit increasing by 12.6% for the quarter.