Industry News

Overview of the Taiwan Plastic & Rubber Machinery Industry
and
Taipei Plas 2008

Taiwan is a small island with an area of 36,500 km².  However, its output of plastics and rubber machinery ranks No. 5 in the world.  Germany has a land area of 356,000 km², a population of 82,130,000 and is currently the leader of the plastics and rubber machinery industry.  The United States is the fourth largest of the industry, boasting an area of 9,520,000 km² and more than 300,000,000 of population.

Despite of geographical constraints, Taiwan has been one of the most active players in the plastics and rubber machinery industry and is among the world’s top five in terms of production volume.  This achievement is due to three reasons, first of which being the fact that Taiwan has nearly 40 years of experience in the development and production of plastics and rubber machinery and is now home to around 250 manufacturers.  Secondly, Taiwan lacks natural resources, so its survival rule has been to engage actively in the world trade and to take full advantage of its top-notch human resources.  To support the development of various industries, quality labor and engineers are trained in the many vocational high schools, technical colleges and universities.  In 2006, for instance, there were approximately one million college students, and 48% of them majored in technology.  Thirdly, Taiwan has been able to maintain its competitive edge because of its strong supply chain in machinery parts.  There are around 10,000 machinery parts factories in Taiwan and they function as the parts subcontractors to the machinery builders.   The machinery cluster formed contributes to the brilliant success of the industry, enabling Taiwan to produce products with exceptional quality and meet the demands from all sides.

In 1980s and 1990s, Taiwan had been the world’s No.1 in making labor-intensive products including electric fans, shoes, sunglasses, and IT products such as scanner, monitors, key boards, and mouse.  The extensive use of plastic parts in those products greatly boosted Taiwan’s plastics and rubber machinery output.  Significant amount of capital was also invested in R&D.   Although many products are now produced in China instead of Taiwan, 70% of all IT products made there have Taiwan as their primary investor.  This is the driving force that fosters the continuous growth of Taiwan’s plastics and rubber machinery industry, churning out hi-tech machines that in turn produce innovative IT products such as cell phones, GPS devices, MP3 players, etc.

The chart below illustrates Taiwan’s output, export and import values, and the market demand in 2006.  Worthwhile to mention is the total market demand, which reached US$ 561 million, showing a 9.6% growth over the previous year.

Due to the mass Taiwanese investments and the proximity of culture and language, China has become the largest export destination for Taiwan plastics and rubber machinery.  In 2006, the export value of Taiwan machinery to China reached US$ 400 million, accounting for 43% of the total export.  Other major markets include Japan, USA, Turkey, South Africa, and South East Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The import value of plastics and rubber machinery soared to US$352 million in 2006, which was a 16% growth comparing to the year 2005.  Japan is Taiwan’s largest supplier, taking up 51% of Taiwan’s total import. Germany ranked the 2nd, accounting for 13.5% with a value of around US$48 million.

The ICT sector, being Taiwan’s most important industry, has been setting up its production lines in Taiwan, China, South East Asia, and Latin America.  In spite of the re-location, major procurement decisions are still made by the headquarters in Taiwan.  Therefore, the amount of Taiwan’s procurement of foreign machinery could well exceed US$353 million, as some of the equipment purchased is shipped directly to those countries where their overseas production lines are located.

TAIPEI PLAS is organized biennially by TAITRA.  In terms of exhibition scale and number of visitors, the show has maintained a stable growth over the recent years.  TAIPEI PLAS 2006 had 380 exhibitors using 2,028 booths.  And brighter prospects are projected for TAIPEI PLAS 2008, with an estimated 2,500 booths joining the show, attracting an equal number of overseas visitors.  TAIPEI PLAS 2008 will be held at the brand new TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall.  The new venue can accommodate 2,465 standard booths and will offer superb services and create more lucrative business opportunities.

Taiwan, though being a small island with an area ranking No. 141 in the world, has a foreign reserve that is among the world’s top four and a trade volume that ranks No. 18th globally.  This is achieved because of an excellent corporate credibility -in other words, Taiwan entrepreneurs are your most reliable business partners.  Thus it makes no doubt that Taiwan is the ideal sourcing center for quality machines and your best ally in expanding into the Asian market, and the Chinese market in particular.  Come and experience for yourself the tremendous values Taiwan can bring to your business!

For more information, please log onto www.taipeiplas.com.tw, or write us an e-mail at plas@taitra.org.tw