Plastics Machinery Shipments Decline in Second Quarter

Plastics Industry Association’s (PLASTICS) Committee on Equipment Statistics (CES) released second quarter 2024 shipment data for primary plastics machinery in North America, covering injection molding and extrusion machinery. The estimated shipment value of $224.8 million marked a 15.4% decrease from the previous quarter and a drop of 36.2% compared to the same period in 2023.

A bright spot of sorts came from single-screw extrusion, which saw a 3.4% quarter-over-quarter increase but was still down 28.6% year over year. Twin-screw extrusion fell 23.5% for the quarter and 25.3% year over year. Injection molding shipments dropped by 16.3% for the second quarter and were off 37.7% compared to the year-ago quarter.

PLASTICS’ Chief Economist Perc Pineda stated that the second consecutive quarter of decline in shipments was not due to a pullback in plastics demand, citing his association’s monthly Plastics Demand Estimate, which has displayed growth in demand recently. “There is no indication that the baseline demand for plastic products has deteriorated,” Pineda says. Manufacturers’ finished goods inventories of plastics and rubber products were estimated at $15.0 billion in June 2024, compared to $15.2 billion in June last year, indicating slow inventory adjustments.

CES quarterly survey of sentiment showed that 79.9% of respondents anticipate steady or improved market conditions over the next 12 months, while 40.0% reported an increase in quoting activity, which was lower than the 48.9% in the previous quarter’s survey.

For the second quarter of 2024, total U.S. exports of plastics equipment declined by 14.7% to $341.0 million compared to the previous quarter, while imports decreased by 3.8% to $856.8 million during the same period. Slightly more than half — 53.4% — of exports went to Mexico and Canada, which accounted for $182.3 million of U.S. plastics machinery exports globally.