The figures were released at the start of Interpack, with Richard Clemens, managing director of VDMA, revealing that the German producers took home €550m of the world sweet manufacture and packaging market, which had a total value of €2.2bn in 2010.
Quicker product changeover times, easy cleaning with low consumption of resources, high flexibility in terms of packaging and energy consumption optimization are the fundamental drivers of the new confectionery machine releases at the German trade event, he added.
Global sales of confectionery last year reached 14 million tonnes and is set to further increase by almost 10 per cent over the next three to four years to reach 15.5 million tonnes by 2015, reports Euromonitor.
The analysts expect to see a hike in sweet sale volumes of 2 to 4 per cent on average per annum in emerging geographies such as the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America
Interestingly, the most important sales region for Germany last year was Europe, which represented 50 per cent of the equipment suppliers’ total shipments. Asia came in second with 18 per cent followed by Near and Middle East and Latin America taking fourth place.
Deliveries to Russia in 2010, notes the VDMA, increased by almost 8 per cent to €51.5m.
“Further top 10 markets were Ukraine, Turkey, Indonesia, Azerbaijan, Iran and China,” remarked Clemens.
Clemens also reported that the German food and drink, pharmaceutical and cosmetics packaging machinery sector has rebounded, faring well in 2010 and incoming orders for the first three months of 2011 up 11 per cent on 2010.
The VDMA estimates that its packaging technology membership now has a 20 per cent share of total worldwide production volume, which is valued at €24.1bn. Italy is second in terms of global dominance with a 16 per cent share, said the association.
Again dynamism in the developing markets fueled this packaging demand. The German suppliers shipped €483m worth of packaging equipment to China alone, commented the VDMA.