North American shipments of plastics machinery suffered a year-over-year decrease in the third quarter of 2016. It is the first quarterly decline since the third quarter of 2015 and only the second since 2010, according to a report from the Plastics Industry Association's Committee on Equipment Statistics.
Early estimates show that primary machinery shipments for reporting companies totaled $294.7 million in the third quarter of 2016, representing a 2.4 percent drop from the same period in 2015 and a 6.5 percent decrease from the second quarter of 2016, according to the Washington, D.C.-based association. However, strong results during the first half of the year were more than enough to offset the third-quarter slump, and year-to-date sales were still up 4.7 percent compared to the first nine months of 2015.
New bookings for auxiliary equipment fared slightly better, totaling $119.8 million in the third quarter of 2016 — a year-over-year gain of 0.7 percent.
