Industry ends 2008 on a positive note / Packaging performs best / Outlook for 2009 is troubled

摘要

Germany's plastics processing sector performed better than many other sectors in 2008, the industry association Gesamt-verband Kunststoffverarbeitende Industrie (GKV, Bad Hom-burg / Germany; www.gkv.de) said at its annual press conference in Frankfurt. Despite the worldwide economic nose dive in Q4, converters posted a full-year sales increase of 2% against 2007 to EUR 54 bn. Production volume was flat at 12.9m t. However, due to the trend to lighter weight, this means that more plastic products were manufactured, association president Reinhard Proske pointed out.