Martin Hintz, ETMA’s President

In the first half of 2010 the European flexible tubes industry recorded up to two-digit increases in order income, depending on the requested tube diameters and tube types, says the European tube manufacturers association (ETMA).

At present production capacities are well utilized,” says the association, which also notes a trend towards short-term orders with smaller lot sizes requiring an enormous flexibility from tube producers.

Nevertheless, ETMA members are rather confident that tube deliveries will have exceeded 10 billion units again. “In some European countries even quantities comparable to the good 2008 results might be possible.

However, the positive development of the demand in 2010 is accompanied by “huge raw material price hikes.” According to ETMA, these rises clearly threaten the industry. The association says that from June 2009 to June 2010 oil prices increased by 23 percent and aluminium prices by 40 per cent. The prices of the plastic materials PE-LD and PP rose by 53 and 64 per cent respectively and that of paper by even 77 per cent.

The rise of raw materials is obviously passed on haulage contractors, lacquer, printing ink, closure and cardboard producers. According to ETMA, the pressure is becoming dramatic on the European tube industry. Other associations of plastic converters, in France, in Germany and in the United Kingdom have recently expressed similar concerns.

The raw material price developments in the last twelve months are now drastically squeezing the European tube producers’ margins. This is a major problem for the industry because in any business reasonable margins are a precondition for securing innovativeness, sustainable production and necessary investments in new technologies,” says Martin Hintz, the new President of the European tube manufacturers association.