Rubexpo in Colombo
From August 5th – 7th 2016 DEGUMA participated in the Rubexpo 2016 in the capital of Sri La
nka. Sales manager Sebastian Bein and sales representative Thorsten Orf presented DEGUMA to the trade visitors and provided information about the machine and service portfolio of DEGUMA to prospective customers. 175 companies from the rubber and plastic processing industry participated in this trade fair. The second edition of the Rubexpo took place concurrently with three other trade fairs concentrating on the plastic industry, packaging, tools, and engineering: Sri Lanka Plast (focusing on plastics), Compack (focusing on the fundamentals of packaging), and Enmach (focusing on manufacturing needs). Rubexpo is focusing on producers and providers of technology of the rubber industry.
It was the first participation in a trade fair in Sri Lanka for DEGUMA, which has been maintaining business relations to the Asian island nation since the 90s. The on-site sales team was able to meet all the existing contacts face-to-face and establish new ones. After the trade fair Sebastian Bein and Thorsten Orf seized the chance to visit local companies and factories to get an idea of the Sri Lankan rubber productions and to intensify business contacts.
Sri Lanka is an island nation in the South of India with 21 million inhabitants. Its economic growth is about 5 % and is increasing slowly but steadily in the last few years. Due to its geographic position Sri Lanka has been considered a strategic hub for relevant shipping routes between the Middle East and Southeast Asia since the ancient times. Today, Sri Lanka wants to establish itself as an international trade hub in Southeast Asia with the help of foreign direct investment. The island, which was called Ceylon previously, is especially renowned for the export of tea and also for the export of coffee, coconuts and natural rubber. Sri Lanka was the first Asian Country where rubber trees were planted and is today the 8th largest producer and 6th largest exporter of natural rubber. Until 2023 the Sri Lankan rubber industry is supposed to hit the 5 billion US $ mark. The import from Germany increased in 2015 by 5,9 % in comparison to 2016 to 346,7 million US $. 29,4 % of the imported goods were machines.
Source of data: Germany Trade & Invest, 2015