Double-digit volume increases in several market segments / Higher plastics prices hurt recovery

摘要

After seeing volumes shrink by 5 % in 2009, the European flexible tubes industry is now enjoying double-digit increases in order intake for some of its products, says the European Tubes Manufacturers Association (etma, Diisseldorf / Germany; www.etma-online.org). The organisation, which : claims to represent three-quarters of European tube produc-tion, says its members are "rather confident" of once again achieving sales exceeding 10 bn units (9.65 bn units in 2009) and matching the record 2008 level of 10.2 bn units. Production capacities are currently "well utilised", with companies seeing increasingly short-term orders with smaller lot sizes.