They totaled $338.1 million, down from $398 million in the first six months of last year, Guillermo Salas, president of Anipac (Asociación Nacional de Industrias del Plástico AC) said in an Oct. 1 speech in Mexico City.

Salas argued that the downturn is temporary and the situation will improve because the Mexican economy, which he insisted is closely tied to that of the United States, “is showing signs of recovery.”

“There are fewer and fewer cases of machinery standing idle,” he said. “Technological innovation is generally based on design and for this reason the sale of the latest technology in molds and machinery will continue to be required.”

Imports of injection presses in the first six months totaled $125.4 million, down 11.9 percent from the same period in 2008, Salas said.

Imports of other types of machinery were as follows: extruders, $32.4 million (down 20.8 percent); blow molding machinery, $26 million (down 29.1 percent); thermoformers, $11.3 million (down 13.9 percent); others, $142.97 million (down 13.5 percent).

Salas said China, which failed to make the list of the top 11 exporters of plastic processing machinery to Mexico until 2006, occupied eighth place in 2008, with sales of $37.9 million, after leapfrogging such rivals as South Korea ($35 million), Austria ($32.1 million) and Taiwan ($20.8 million).

His own company, Industrias Plásticas Máximo SA de CV, is a major importer of Chinese plastic injection machinery.

The United States ($211.8 million in 2008), Germany ($147.4 million), Japan ($113.5 million) and Italy ($80.8 million) continue to be the leading exporters of such machinery to Mexico.

According to Salas, imports of molds in the first six months totaled $404.6 million, up 2.6 percent from the January-June period of 2008, when they totaled $394 million.

But he said consumption of raw materials by Mexico’s processors will drop an estimated 2 percent this year, down from slightly more than 4 million metric tonnes in 2008 and a similar level in 2007.

Extrusion activities account for 1.9 million metric tonnes of the raw materials consumed in the country, followed by injection (1.2 million metric tonnes), blow molding (1.1 million metric tonnes), thermoforming (300,000 metric tonnes) and rotational molding (66,000 metric tonnes), Salas said.

Food and drink packaging accounts for 49 percent of all the plastic processed in Mexico, he said, followed by consumer goods (22 percent), the construction industry (11 percent), electrics and electronics (6 percent), the furniture and automotive industries (4 percent each), industrial (2 percent), the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries (1 percent each).

Salas, who emphasized that rotomolding and plastic recycling offer some of the biggest opportunities for growth in Mexico, was speaking at an event to present the 2010 edition of the Plastimagen exhibition, which Anipac organizes every two years in conjunction with E.J. Krause de México. Next year’s show will be held March 23-26 in Mexico City.