For the sixth time, Composites Germany, the leading the trade association, has identified up-to-date KPIs for the composites market (market for fibre-reinforced plastics) in its latest Composites Market Survey.

As before, the survey covered all the member companies of the four biggest umbrella organisations of Composites Germany – AVK, CCeV, CFK Valley and VDMA.

The market survey mainly looks at qualitative data concerning general market developments and also the specific developments of the various composites segments. Like in the previous surveys since 2013, the level of satisfaction among participating companies was generally very high, despite a slightly negative trend for certain indicators.

General business situation

The general business situation was seen as more positive or very positive by the vast majority of respondents. The proportion of optimistic assessments of the worldwide business situation in this latest survey was 82%, amounting to a slight increase of 2% since the previous survey.

However, this indicator was much higher again for the German market, where 73% of respondents assessed the general business situation as more positive and 14% as very positive.

Optimism also prevailed among the majority of respondents on future developments. Only a very small proportion of participants (less than 10%) said they expected the situation to deteriorate in the next six-month period, although there were differences in their assessments of the different regions (i.e. worldwide, Europe and Germany).

Companies’ own business situations

Companies are currently continuing to give positive assessments of their own business situations. Over three quarters of all respondents described their own companies/organisations as being in a more positive or indeed very positive position.

When asked about expectations about their own business situations for the next six-month period, only a very small number expected a deterioration in Europe.

Investment climate stays positive

As expected, this positive image was supported by the investment climate indicators. Companies’ HR planning figures were very similar to the level found in the previous survey. As before, many expected to see an increase in their own staffing levels.

In this segment the ongoing positive trend was even more clearly in evidence for investments in plants and machinery. 44% of respondents expected corresponding increases during the next six-month period. Having risen by 7%, this value was again much higher than in the previous survey.

Still the same growth driver

Where the material is concerned, respondents still expected most important growth stimuli to come from CRP. This has not changed.

When asked about regional expectations, respondents said they expected Germany to continue delivering major stimuli. Both Asia and Europe (except Germany) were down somewhat in significance, but continued to be important.

Composites index down slightly

Compared with the previous survey, both the general economic situation and the companies’ own business situations were seen as less positive.

These indicators, however, should not distract from a highly positive overall picture of the industry that continues to prevail. In all, satisfaction and optimism for the future continue at a very high level. It remains to be seen whether the slowdown is merely a temporary fluctuation or perhaps a general trend.

www.composites-germany.org